Improved spatial resolution for reflection mode infrared microscopy

Standard commercial infrared microscopes operating in reflection mode use a mirror to direct the reflected light from the sample to the detector. This mirror blocks about half of the incident light, however, and thus degrades the spatial resolution by reducing the numerical aperture of the objective. Here, we replace the mirror with a 50% beamsplitter to allow full illumination of the objective and retain a way to direct the reflected light to the detector. The improved spatial resolution is demonstrated using two different microscopes capable of diffraction-limited resolution: the first microscope is coupled to a synchrotron source and utilizes a single point detector, whereas the second microscope has a standard blackbody source and uses a focal plane array detector. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3270260]