An extremely high resolution holographic lens is provided, comprising an
interference pattern between light emitted from at least one tiny point
source of light such as the tip of an optical fiber, having a diameter in
the nanoscale region, and at least one plane or quasi-plane broad light
beam. The holographic lens is employed for example in pickups for reading
data off of, and writing data upon terabit optical storage mediums and
nanoscale resolution microscopic media.