Single-shot Sub-Rayleigh Imaging with Sparse Detection

For conventional imaging, the imaging resolution limit is given by the Rayleigh criterion. Exploiting the prior knowledge of imaging objects sparsity and fixed optical system, imaging beyond the conventional Rayleigh limit, which is backed up by numerical simulation and experiments, is achieved by illuminating the object with single-shot thermal light and detecting the objects information at the imaging plane with some sparse-array single-pixel detectors. The quality of sub-Rayleigh imaging with sparse detection is also shown to be related to the effective number of single-pixel detectors and the detection signal-to-noise ratio at the imaging plane.