Materials science

Microscopy

Computer science

Fluorophore

Fluorescence-lifetime imaging microscopy

Super-resolution microscopy

Resolution (logic)

Image resolution

Physics

Optics

Photoactivated localization microscopy

Fluorescence

Artificial intelligence

Fluorescence microscope

Diffraction

Nature Methods

We have developed a high-resolution fluorescence microscopy method based on high-accuracy localization of photoswitchable fluorophores. In each imaging cycle, only a fraction of the fluorophores were turned on, allowing their positions to be determined with nanometer accuracy. The fluorophore positions obtained from a series of imaging cycles were used to reconstruct the overall image. We demonstrated an imaging resolution of 20 nm. This technique can, in principle, reach molecular-scale resolution.

Sub-diffraction-limit imaging by stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM)