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IMAGING

Optical nanoscopy turns coherent

Nature Photonics volume 12, pages 63–65 (2018)Cite this article

The ability to switch fluorophores on and off is key to performing super-resolution nanoscopy. To date, all switching schemes have been based on an incoherent response to the laser field. Now, a nanoscope that uses on–off coherent switching of quantum dots has been demonstrated.

In the 1990s, it was proposed1 and experimentally shown2 that the resolution of fluorescence far-field microscopy is not limited by diffraction. The basic idea behind this super-resolution capability is to shrink the focal point spread function (PSF) by switching off fluorophores in the outer rim of the focal area. This was first achieved by stimulated emission depletion (STED) and since then many other optically driven, spatial switching techniques have been established3. Alternatively, localization of single molecules4 together with stochastic temporal switching5 can also yield super-resolution through schemes referred to as photoactivated localization microscopy (PALM) and stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM).

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Fig. 1: Comparison of STED with RAP super-resolution nanoscopy.

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  1. Institute of Applied Physics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Linz, Austria

    Thomas A. Klar

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  1. Thomas A. Klar
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Correspondence to Thomas A. Klar.

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Klar, T.A. Optical nanoscopy turns coherent. Nature Photon 12, 63–65 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-018-0093-8

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