Mariano Bossi et al 2006 New J. Phys. 8 275 doi:10.1088/1367-2630/8/11/275
Mariano Bossi, Jonas Fölling, Marcus Dyba, Volker Westphal and Stefan W Hell
Show affiliationsWe 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.
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
Issue 11 (November 2006)
Received 6 September 2006
Published 16 November 2006
Mariano Bossi et al 2006 New J. Phys. 8 275
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