Axial resolution and contrast enhancement in digital scanned light-sheet microscopy via stimulated emission depletion. (21st September 2020) - Deng, Suhui
Abstract: Integration of stimulated emission depletion (STED) with digital scanned light-sheet microscopy (DSLM) using a Bessel beam achieves fast, high-resolution and large field of view (FOV) imaging. Here, we report on a combination method of DSLM and STED by using a Bessel beam for excitation and a hollow Gaussian beam for depletion. Owing to the advantages of confined axial distribution around the focal plane for the hollow Gaussian depletion beam, those fluorescence signals from the periphery of the Bessel excitation pattern are depleted by stimulated emission. A super-resolved light sheet with suppressed side lobes is achieved. The numerical simulation results show that the use of the Bessel beam for the excitation and the hollow Gaussian beam for the STED results in a DSLM system with enhanced performance of the axial resolution and image contrast over a moderately large FOV.