2014/05/06 by John Bechhoefer · 1 voice · 20 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Engineering · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Fluorescence Microscopy Techniques #Artificial intelligence #Computer science #Diffraction #Digital Holography and Microscopy #Image (mathematics) #Image resolution #Information retrieval #Limit (mathematics) #Mathematical analysis #Mathematics #Microscopy #Near-Field Optical Microscopy #Nonlinear system #Optics #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Resolution (logic) #Scaling #Superresolution #physics.optics #sort
paper · pdf · doi:10.1119/1.4900756
published in American Journal of Physics 83(1), 22-29 (American Institute of Physics) · 9 pages, 5 figures
arxiv published 2014/05/06 · arxiv created 2014/10/08 · arxiv updated 2014/10/08 · openalex publication_date 2014/12/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
In this paper, we discuss what is, what is not, and what is only sort of superresolution microscopy. We begin by considering optical resolution, first in terms of diffraction theory, then in terms of linear-systems theory, and finally in terms of techniques that use prior information, nonlinearity, and other tricks to improve resolution. This discussion reveals two classes of superresolution microscopy, “pseudo” and “true.” The former improves images up to the diffraction limit, whereas the latter allows for substantial improvements beyond the diffraction limit. The two classes are distinguished by their scaling of resolution with photon counts. Understanding the limits to imaging resolution involves concepts that pertain to almost any measurement problem, implying a framework with applications beyond optics.