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Virtual slit scanning microscopy

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Abstract

We present a novel slit scanning confocal microscope with a CCD camera image sensor and a virtual slit aperture for descanning that can be adjusted during post-processing. A very efficient data structure and mathematical criteria for aligning the virtual aperture guarantee the ease of use. We further introduce a method to reduce the anisotropic lateral resolution of slit scanning microscopes. System performance is evaluated against a spinning disk confocal microscope on identical specimens. The virtual slit scanning microscope works as the spinning disk type and outperforms on thick specimens.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Andreas Vonderheit for preparing the biological specimens and Dr. Gabor Csúcs of the Light Microscopy Center (LMC) of ETH Zurich for assisting us with the spinning disk confocal microscope.

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Author notes

  1. Yury Belyaev

    Present address: Advanced Light Microscopy Facility, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstr. 1, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nanotechnology Group, ETH Zurich, Tannenstrasse 3, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland

    Reto Fiolka, Andreas Stemmer & Yury Belyaev

Authors
  1. Reto Fiolka
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  2. Andreas Stemmer
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  3. Yury Belyaev
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Correspondence to Andreas Stemmer.

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Fiolka, R., Stemmer, A. & Belyaev, Y. Virtual slit scanning microscopy. Histochem Cell Biol 128, 499–505 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00418-007-0342-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00418-007-0342-2

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