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Deutsche Physikalische Gessellschaft IOP Institute of Physics

Breaking the diffraction resolution barrier in far-field microscopy by molecular optical bistability

Mariano Bossi, Jonas Fölling, Marcus Dyba, Volker Westphal and Stefan W Hell

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We demonstrate the breaking of the diffraction resolution barrier in far-field fluorescence microscopy by photoswitching ensembles of optically bistable organic molecular markers from a non-fluorescent to a fluorescent state and back. The photoswitching is accomplished by an isomerization reaction of a photochromic compound serving as a reversible energy acceptor of a fluorescent compound. The surpassing of the diffraction barrier with power levels of only a few hundred W cm−2 of continuous wave irradiation is evidenced both in the effective point spread function and in the fluorescence images of test samples.


PACS

87.64.K- Spectroscopy

42.30.Lr Modulation and optical transfer functions

82.30.Qt Isomerization and rearrangement

42.30.Va Image forming and processing

42.65.Pc Optical bistability, multistability, and switching, including local field effects

82.50.-m Photochemistry

Subjects

Optics, quantum optics and lasers

Medical physics

Biological physics

Chemical physics and physical chemistry

Dates

Issue 11 (November 2006)

Received 6 September 2006

Published 16 November 2006



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