Single-molecule STED microscopy with photostable organic fluorophores.

In recent years, fluorescencemicroscopy techniques have been invented that are no longer fundamentally limited by diffraction despite using visible light focused by conventional optical elements. Contrary to earlier attempts to improve the spatial resolution, such as near-field optics and aperture filters, all far-field fluorescence ‘‘nanoscopy’’ methods known to date rely on a judicious exploitation of selected fluorophore properties. In particular, all are based on utilizing a molecular mechanism that renders the fluorophores incapable of responding with fluorescence emission to excitation light. This fluorescence inhibition mechanism is implemented in the image formation in such away that fluorophores that are closer than the diffraction limit emit sequentially in time and hence can be discerned. In stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy, fluorescence is inhibited by subjecting the dye molecules to an additional beam of light, thus inducing stimulated emission from the fluorescent state S1 to the ground state S0. The