Have you ever wondered how superresolution microscopy works? What’s the difference between STED, STORM, and MINFLUX? What is “resolution” and what is a “PSF”? What is so special about the STEDYCON? Read on to find out.
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You have heard of STED but don’t have a clear idea how it overcomes the diffraction-limited resolution of confocal microscopes? You maybe even think it to be somewhat complicated? In fact, it isn’t. It’s just physics, smartly applied. Details >
The donut-shaped de-excitation beam is one of the most important practical ingredients for superresolution STED microscopy. But how do you put a hole into a beam of light? Surprisingly, it’s not that difficult if you know how to do it, but it’s very difficult to get it right in practice. Details >
What has to be inside a STED microscope to achieve superresolution? How does its hardware differ from a confocal setup? (Hint: Not very much.) And what does that mean for the user? (Many good things.) Is handling a STED system any more complicated than using a confocal? (Not really.) Important questions – here are some in-depth answers. Details >
Since the 1990s, confocal microscopes have been a staple in labs visualizing biological or material specimens. The development of STED microscopy prompted the question: how does the established confocal microscope compare to the (now not so) “new kid on the block”? Details >
For over a century, we stood at the edge of microscope resolution and cursed the inexorable blur of diffracted light. Instruments improved, but the fog never lifted. Then, one man stopped trying to control how light behaves. Armed with a donut-shaped laser beam, he instead commanded where it shines and untethered resolution forever. Details >
MINFLUX reaches unprecedented spatio-temporal resolution in light microscopy and provides 2D and 3D localization precisions in the single-digit nanometer range. Details >
