Absorption-Induced Image Resolution Enhancement in Scattering Media

Highly scattering media pose significant challenges for many optical imaging applications due to the loss of information inherent to the scattering process. Absorption can also result in significant degradation of image quality. However, absorption can actually improve the resolution of images transmitted through scattering media in certain cases. Here we study how the presence of absorption can enhance the quality of an image transmitted through a scattering medium, by investigating the dependence of this enhancement on the medium’s scattering properties. We find that absorption-induced image resolution enhancement is substantially larger for media consisting of isotropic scatterers (e.g., dielectric nanoparticles) than for strongly forward-scattering media (e.g., biological tissue). This work leads to a broader understanding, and ultimately control, of the optical properties of strongly absorbing, scattering media.