SIL-STED microscopy technique enhancing super-resolution of fluorescence microscopy

We have characterized a new type STED microscope which combines a high numerical aperture (NA) optical head with a solid immersion lens (SIL), and we call it as SIL-STED microscope. The advantage of a SIL-STED microscope is that its high NA of the SIL makes it superior to a general STED microscope in lateral resolution, thus overcoming the optical diffraction limit at the macromolecular level and enabling advanced super-resolution imaging of cell surface or cell membrane structure and function Do. This study presents the first implementation of higher NA illumination in a STED microscope limiting the fluorescence lateral resolution to about 40 nm. The refractive index of the SIL which is made of material KTaO³ is about 2.23 and 2.20 at a wavelength of 633 nm and 780 nm which are used for excitation and depletion in STED imaging, respectively. Based on the vector diffraction theory, the electric field focused by the SILSTED microscope is numerically calculated so that the numerical results of the point dispersion function of the microscope and the expected resolution could be analyzed. For further investigation, fluorescence imaging of nano size fluorescent beads is fulfilled to show improved performance of the technique.