The invention discloses a high resolution infrared imaging optical system. The system comprises a front optical system, a filter system, a microlens array, a back set optical system and a detector focal plane array which are sequentially arranged along an optical axis, wherein the microlens array is arranged on a back focal plane of the front optical system, the filter system is a flat lens provided with multiple shadow areas and transparent areas, the microlens array and the filter system are parallel, the microlens array comprises multiple microlenses which are spliced together, the detector focal plane array comprises multiple image elements which are spliced together, the image elements, the microlenses and the transparent areas correspond to each other in one-to-one mode, and a modulation system is further arranged between the optical system and the filter system. The invention further discloses an imaging method. The system is advantaged in that the structure is simple, the system is easy to process, high resolution infrared imaging can be realized without any motion part, super large aperture angles can be realized, the system is particularly suitable for infrared wave bands, and a problem of low resolution of an infrared imaging system in the prior art can be effectively solved.