Patent ID: 7990611

Claim:
An optical system, comprising: a source of electromagnetic radiation, having a first wavelength, λ 1 ; dividing optical elements configured for dividing the radiation from the source to create D+1 excitation beams; directing optical elements configured for directing each excitation beam in a unique direction, k n , such that the beams intersect within an excitation region to create an interference pattern having a symmetry of a first optical Bravais lattice in two or three dimensions, D, and a first lattice periodicity; control optical elements configured for controlling an electromagnetic field basis associated with the first lattice to produce at least one excitation maximum in each primitive cell of the first lattice, wherein the at least one excitation maximum is substantially confined to a region less than the wavelength, λ 1 , in at least two dimensions; a detector including individual detector elements configured for detecting signal light resulting from an interaction of the lattice with a sample located in the excitation region, wherein the lattice and the directions, k n , of the excitation beams are selected such that the first lattice periodicity is large enough for signals from multiple excitation maxima within the sample to be individually resolved and measured substantially simultaneously by separate individual detector elements.