Corkscrew point spread function for far-field three-dimensional nanoscale localization of pointlike objects.

We describe the corkscrew point spread function (PSF), which can localize objects in three dimensions throughout a 3.2 μm depth of field with nanometer precision. The corkscrew PSF rotates as a function of the axial (z) position of an emitter. Fisher information calculations show that the corkscrew PSF can achieve nanometer localization precision with limited numbers of photons. We demonstrate three-dimensional super-resolution microscopy with the corkscrew PSF by imaging beads on the surface of a triangular polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) grating. With 99,000 photons detected, the corkscrew PSF achieves a localization precision of 2.7 nm in x, 2.1 nm in y, and 5.7 nm in z.

[1]  W. E. Moerner,et al.  Localizing and tracking single nanoscale emitters in three dimensions with high spatiotemporal resolution using a double-helix point spread function. , 2010, Nano letters.

[2]  Matthew D. Lew,et al.  Three-dimensional localization precision of the double-helix point spread function versus astigmatism and biplane. , 2010, Applied physics letters.

[3]  Mark Bates,et al.  Three-Dimensional Super-Resolution Imaging by Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy , 2008, Science.

[4]  Yale E Goldman,et al.  Parallax: high accuracy three-dimensional single molecule tracking using split images. , 2009, Nano letters.

[5]  L. Holtzer,et al.  Nanometric three-dimensional tracking of individual quantum dots in cells , 2007 .

[6]  H. P. Kao,et al.  Tracking of single fluorescent particles in three dimensions: use of cylindrical optics to encode particle position. , 1994, Biophysical journal.

[7]  Rafael Piestun,et al.  Performance limits on three-dimensional particle localization in photon-limited microscopy. , 2010, Optics letters.

[8]  Alexander Egner,et al.  Isotropic 3D Nanoscopy based on single emitter switching. , 2008, Optics express.

[9]  S. Ram,et al.  Simultaneous imaging of different focal planes in fluorescence microscopy for the study of cellular dynamics in three dimensions , 2004, IEEE Transactions on NanoBioscience.

[10]  Yoav Y Schechner,et al.  Depth from diffracted rotation. , 2006, Optics letters.

[11]  Rafael Piestun,et al.  High-efficiency rotating point spread functions. , 2008, Optics express.

[12]  S. Ram,et al.  High accuracy 3D quantum dot tracking with multifocal plane microscopy for the study of fast intracellular dynamics in live cells. , 2008, Biophysical journal.

[13]  Jianyong Tang,et al.  Near-isotropic 3D optical nanoscopy with photon-limited chromophores , 2010, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[14]  J. Lippincott-Schwartz,et al.  Interferometric fluorescent super-resolution microscopy resolves 3D cellular ultrastructure , 2009, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[15]  Zhuo Gan,et al.  Elucidation of intracellular recycling pathways leading to exocytosis of the Fc receptor, FcRn, by using multifocal plane microscopy , 2007, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[16]  Y. Schechner,et al.  Propagation-invariant wave fields with finite energy. , 2000, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision.

[17]  J Alexander Liddle,et al.  3D particle trajectories observed by orthogonal tracking microscopy. , 2009, ACS nano.

[18]  S. Hess,et al.  Three-dimensional sub–100 nm resolution fluorescence microscopy of thick samples , 2008, Nature Methods.