Microscopy articles within Nature Photonics

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  • Article |

    A single-source multimodal nonlinear optical imaging system has been developed to probe different endogenous biomolecules. Rapid, stain-free imaging of fresh tissue specimens is possible with short turnaround times for disease diagnosis.

    • Haohua Tu
    • , Yuan Liu
    •  & Stephen A. Boppart

  • News & Views |

    A 2016 competition to find the optimum software for 3D single-molecule localization microscopy will help practitioners choose the best tool for the job and spur further developments in the field.

    • Seamus Holden
    •  & Daniel Sage

  • Commentary |

    The definition and reporting of spatial resolution for coherent imaging methods varies widely in the imaging community. We advocate the use of a standard spoke-pattern imaging target and the mandatory inclusion of information about underlying a priori assumptions.

    • Roarke Horstmeyer
    • , Rainer Heintzmann
    •  & Changhuei Yang

  • Article |

    By exploiting a second off state of a reversibly switchable fluorophore, a general approach that can reduce photobleaching and enhance resolution of coordinate-targeted fluorescence nanoscopy has been demonstrated.

    • Johann G. Danzl
    • , Sven C. Sidenstein
    •  & Stefan W. Hell

  • News & Views |

    Hyperbolic phonon polaritons confined to the subdiffraction limit exhibit encouragingly long lifetimes and group velocities as slow as 0.002c. Researchers use a time-resolved set-up sensitive to nanometre-scale optical fields to shed light on the exciting optical properties of hyperbolic materials.

    • Joshua D. Caldwell
    • , Igor Vurgaftman
    •  & Joseph G. Tischler

  • Article |

    Researchers exploit direct stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy and dedicated detection of super-critical-angle fluorescence emission to enable direct optical nanoscopy with axially localized detection.

    • N. Bourg
    • , C. Mayet
    •  & S. Lévêque-Fort

  • News & Views |

    The observation of individual atoms with single-lattice-site resolution has proved to be an enormously powerful detection method for optical lattice-based quantum simulators. Such a technique has now been demonstrated with fermionic atoms.

    • Christian Groß

  • News & Views |

    A fast scanning light-sheet microscope that produces multicolour, dynamic images of living tissue could provide fresh insights into the brain's neural circuits.

    • Alexander D. Corbett
    •  & Gil Bub

  • Review Article |

    Recent developments in probe-based near-field microscopy are reviewed, including techniques for determining the phase, amplitude and separate components of the electric and magnetic field.

    • N. Rotenberg
    •  & L. Kuipers

  • News & Views |

    The award of this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry to the pioneers of various optical schemes capable of achieving super-resolution and single-molecule detection is recognition of a revolution in optical imaging.

    • Michel Orrit

  • Letter |

    A soft X-ray ptychography approach can now image 5-nm-sized objects. Chemical component distributions in the delithiation of LiFePO4 nanoplates — a process relevant for energy storage — links structural defects to chemical phase propagation.

    • David A. Shapiro
    • , Young-Sang Yu
    •  & Howard A. Padmore

  • Article |

    A high-resolution, broadband imaging system based on coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy performs rapid, chemically specific imaging of biological tissue. It employs three-colour excitation and operates across the entire biological window.

    • Charles H. Camp Jr
    • , Young Jong Lee
    •  & Marcus T. Cicerone

  • Commentary |

    Applying structured illumination microscopy to coherent imaging modalities such as scattering does not yield any additional information beyond that provided by oblique illumination. It thus yields no resolution enhancement over the Abbe diffraction limit, which was derived precisely for that case.

    • Kai Wicker
    •  & Rainer Heintzmann

  • News & Views |

    A clever extension to a classic phase-contrast microscope allows speckle-free three-dimensional quantitative phase imaging of living cells in a tomographic imaging mode.

    • Arno Bouwens
    •  & Theo Lasser

  • Letter |

    Mid-infrared spectroscopy with nanometre spatial resolution is highly desired for materials and life sciences applications. A nanoscale mid-infrared spectrometer is demonstrated that detects mechanical forces exerted by molecules on an atomic force microscope tip upon light excitation. It operates under ambient conditions with a high sensitivity and a spatial resolution of better than 25 nm.

    • Feng Lu
    • , Mingzhou Jin
    •  & Mikhail A. Belkin

  • Article |

    A dual-wavelength fibre laser source has been developed for stimulated Raman scattering microscopy. It is precisely tunable over the entire high-wavenumber region of Raman spectra, where most stimulated Raman scattering imaging is performed. Imaging speeds of up to 1 frame s−1 with shot-noise-limited sensitivity were achieved.

    • Christian W. Freudiger
    • , Wenlong Yang
    •  & Khanh Q. Kieu

  • Article |

    The three-dimensional structures of transparent objects, such as living cells, are captured by an imaging technique that uses white-light illumination and diffraction tomography to collect a stack of phase-based images.

    • Taewoo Kim
    • , Renjie Zhou
    •  & Gabriel Popescu

  • Letter |

    A means for localizing fluorescent molecules over distances of hundreds of nanometres exploits the energy transfer between a donor molecule and surface plasmons on a metal film. The technique is demonstrated by using it to profile the membranes of living cells.

    • Alexey I. Chizhik
    • , Jan Rother
    •  & Jörg Enderlein

  • News & Views |

    Sustaining the ongoing revolution in optical microscopy will require gaining detailed insight into the optical fields in focal spots. Researchers have developed an elegant method for mapping the full electric vector field using just a metal nanosphere on a glass substrate.

    • L. Kuipers

  • Letter |

    Simultaneous detection of electric and magnetic fields with a subwavelength resolution is achieved by a near-field scanning approach. Additionally, theoretical considerations provide guidelines for designing probes sensitive to specific desired combinations of electric- and magnetic-field components.

    • B. le Feber
    • , N. Rotenberg
    •  & L. Kuipers

  • Letter |

    An easily implementable reconstruction scheme is demonstrated for determining the full vectorial amplitude and relative phase distributions of highly confined electromagnetic fields with subwavelength resolution from a single-scan measurement. This scheme will help improve microscopy and nanoscopy techniques.

    • Thomas Bauer
    • , Sergej Orlov
    •  & Gerd Leuchs

  • News & Views |

    Using a pump–probe technique, scientists have experimentally demonstrated a nonlinear imaging scheme that permits the super-resolution imaging of nonfluorescent samples, making it promising for use with unstained specimens.

    • Rainer Heintzmann

  • Letter |

    A scheme for overcoming the diffraction limit in the far-field imaging of non-fluorescent species is demonstrated. This technique, which is based on the spatially controlled saturation of electronic absorption, may enable the super-resolution imaging of nanomaterials and non-fluorescent chromophores.

    • Pu Wang
    • , Mikhail N. Slipchenko
    •  & Ji-Xin Cheng

  • News & Views |

    A holographic microscope capable of dynamically imaging unstained living cells at resolutions beyond the diffraction limit could prove extremely useful for studying biological cells.

    • Gary Brooker

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