Super-resolution Optical Microscopy with Structured Illumination

Abstract

In widefield fluorescence microscopy, resolution improvement can be achieved by illuminating the fluorescent sample with a spatially modulated excitation source. Structured illumination microscopy (SIM) is one such technique, where a spatially modulated illumination pattern is projected onto the sample, and the final image is reconstructed from a series of images in which the pattern is moved between the images in the set. With this technique, lateral resolution can be improved by a factor of 2 in comparison to widefield microscopy. Additional advances in this technique can lead to further improvements in optical resolution and wider applications.