Super-resolution
microscopy, in light microscopy, is a term that gathers several techniques,
which allow images to be taken with a higher resolution than the one imposed by
the diffraction limit. Due to the diffraction of light, the resolution in
conventional light microscopy is limited, as stated (for the special case of
widefield illumination) by Ernst Abbe in 1873. In this context, a
diffraction-limited microscope with numerical aperture N.A. and light with
wavelength λ reaches a lateral resolution of d = λ/(2 N.A.) - a similar
formalism can be followed for the axial resolution (along the optical axis,
z-resolution, depth resolution). The resolution for a standard optical
microscope in the visible light spectrum is about 200 nm laterally and 600 nm
axially. Experimentally, the attained resolution can be measured from the full
width at half maximum (FWHM) of the point spread function (PSF) using images of
point-like objects. Although the resolving power of a microscope is not well
defined, it is generally considered that a super-resolution microscopy
technique offers a resolution better than the one stipulated by Abbe.
In the present book, twelve typical literatures about super-resolution microscopy published on international authoritative
journals were selected to introduce the worldwide newest progress, which
contains reviews or original researches on Face Hallucination Super Resolution, Sparse-coding Super-Resolution, Structured illumination microscopy, Stimulated emission depletion, Localization microscopy and Omnipresent Localization Microscopy, etc. We hope this book can
demonstrate advances in Super-resolution microscopy as well
as give references to the researchers, students and other related people.