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Resolution and contrast enhancements of optical microscope based on point spread function engineering

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Abstract

Point spread function (PSF) engineering-based methods to enhance resolution and contrast of optical microscopes have experienced great achievements in the last decades. These techniques include: stimulated emission depletion (STED), time-gated STED (g-STED), ground-state depletion microscopy (GSD), difference confocal microscopy, fluorescence emission difference microscopy (FED), switching laser mode (SLAM), virtual adaptable aperture system (VAAS), etc. Each affords unique strengths in resolution, contrast, speed and expenses. We explored how PSF engineering generally could be used to break the diffraction limitation, and concluded that the common target of PSF engineering-based methods is to get a sharper PSF. According to their common or distinctive principles to reshape the PSF, we divided all these methods into three categories, nonlinear PSF engineering, linear PSF engineering, and linear-based nonlinear PSF engineering and expounded these methods in classification. Nonlinear effect and linear subtraction is the core techniques described in this paper from the perspective of PSF reconstruction. By comparison, we emphasized each method’s strengths, weaknesses and biologic applications. In the end, we promote an expectation of prospective developing trend for PSF engineering.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Modern Optical Instrumentation, Department of Optical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China

    Yue Fang, Cuifang Kuang, Ye Ma, Yifan Wang & Xu Liu

Authors
  1. Yue Fang
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  2. Cuifang Kuang
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  3. Ye Ma
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  4. Yifan Wang
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  5. Xu Liu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xu Liu.

Additional information

Yue Fang is a master student in the Department of Optical Engineering at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. She received the bachelor degree in Chongqing University College of Optoelectronic Engineering in 2013. Her current research interests are in optical microscopy, nanoscopy and high-precision optical measurement.

Cuifang Kuang is an associate professor in the Department of Optical Engineering at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. He received the Ph.D. degree in School of Science of Beijing Jiaotong University in 2007. From January of 2006 to July of 2006, he went on an academic visit to University of Michigan funded by the Scholarship for Outstanding Doctoral Students. His current research interests are in optical microscopy, nanoscopy and high-precision optical measurement. He is the coauthor of about 60 international refereed journal papers.

Ye Ma is currently studying for his B. Eng. degree in the Department of Optical Engineering at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. He chiefly commits himself to the research on optical super-resolution imaging technology.

Yifan Wang is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Optical Engineering at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. He received the B.S. degree in Xidian University. His current research interests include optical superresolution and digital image processing.

Xu Liu obtained his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Zhejiang University in 1984 and 1986, respectively. He had his Ph.D. degree from Ecole Nationale Superieure de Physique de Marseille in France in 1990. He has been a professor in the Department of Optical Engineering of Zhejiang University since 1995. Currently, he is the Dean of Faculty of Information Technology of Zhejiang University, the Director of the State Key Laboratory of Modern Optical Instrumentation in China. His research fields are: thin film optics and coatings techniques, 3D display, optical imaging and instrumentation. He is the author and co-author of more than 200 journal papers in the above research fields.

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Fang, Y., Kuang, C., Ma, Y. et al. Resolution and contrast enhancements of optical microscope based on point spread function engineering. Front. Optoelectron. 8, 152–162 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-015-0479-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-015-0479-x

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