A compact STED microscope providing 3D nanoscale resolution.

The advent of supercontinuum laser sources has enabled the implementation of compact and tunable stimulated emission depletion fluorescence microscopes for imaging far below the diffraction barrier. Here we report on an enhanced version of this approach displaying an all-physics based resolution down to (19 +/- 3) nm in the focal plane. Alternatively, this single objective lens system can be configured for 3D imaging with resolution down to 45 x 45 x 108 nm in a cell. The obtained results can be further improved by mathematical restoration algorithms. The far-field optical nanoscale resolution is attained in a variety of biological samples featuring strong variations in the local density of features.

Fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy in reduced detection volumes.

Fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy is a versatile technique applied to in vitro and in vivo investigations of biochemical processes such as interactions, mobilities or densities with high specifity and sensitivity. The prerequisite of this dynamical fluorescence technique is to have, at a time, only few fluorescent molecules in the detection volume in order to generate significant fluorescence fluctuations. For usual confocal fluorescence microscopy this amounts to a useful concentration in the nanomolar range. The concentration of many biomolecules in living cell or on cell membranes is, however, often quite high, usually in the micro- to the millimolar range. To allow fluctuation spectroscopy and track intracellular interaction or localization of single fluorescently labeled biomolecules in such crowded environments, development of detection volumes with nanoscale resolution is necessary. As diffraction prevents this in the case of light microscopy, new (non-invasive) optical concepts have been developed. In this mini-review article we present recent advancements, implemented to decrease the detection volume below that of normal fluorescence microscopy. Especially, their combination with fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy is emphasized.