Nonlinear inverse scattering and three-dimensional near-field optical imaging

The nonlinear inverse scattering problem for electromagnetic fields with evanescent components is considered. A solution to this problem is obtained in the form of a functional series expansion. The first term in the expansion corresponds to the pseudoinverse solution to the linearized inverse problem. The higher order terms represent nonlinear corrections to this result. Applications to the problem of three-dimensional optical imaging with subwavelength resolution are described and illustrated with numerical simulations. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.