STED microscopy with continuous wave beams

Abstract

We report stimulated emission depletion (STED) fluorescence microscopy with continuous wave (CW) laser beams. Lateral fluorescence confinement from the scanning focal spot delivered a resolution of 29 - 60 nm in the focal plane, corresponding to a 5 - 8- fold improvement over the diffraction barrier. Axial spot confinement increased the axial resolution by 3.5-fold. We observed three-dimensional (3D) subdiffraction resolution in 3D image stacks. Viable for fluorophores with low triplet yield, the use of CW light sources greatly simplifies the implementation of this concept of far-field fluorescence nanoscopy.