Confocal polarization imaging in high-numerical-aperture space

In this work we describe theoretical and experimental physical aspects of high-resolution imaging polarimetry and its application to polarization-multiplexed encoding. We theoretically demonstrate that it is possible to resolve the orientation of two fixed dipole-like emitters placed significantly below the resolution limit if their emission is uncorrelated. Furthermore, we experimentally demonstrate this phenomenon by illuminating closely spaced asymmetric nanopits with unpolarized light and subsequently determining their individual orientation and position from the measured spatial distributions of the azimuth angle of the polarization and degree of polarization, respectively. Reduction of the optical resolution of the imaging system is also shown to only weakly affect resolution obtainable via polarization measurements. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America