High-speed label-free multimode-fiber-based compressive imaging beyond the diffraction limit

Abstract

Glass fibers are miniature optical components that serve as ultra-narrow endoscopy probes. Ideally, one would want to perform imaging through a fiber at the highest achievable resolution and speed. State-of-the-art super-resolution techniques have shattered the diffraction limit, but more than twofold improvement requires fluorescent labeling and a long acquisition time. Moreover, it is challenging to implement super-resolution microscopy in a fiber format. Here we present fiber-based label-free video-rate imaging at more than 2-fold higher resolution than the diffraction limit. Our work paves the way to rapid, sub-wavelength endo-microscopy in unlabeled live specimens.