OPTICAL SUPER RESOLUTION SPECTROSCOPY

The “Bioenergetics, Metalloproteins and Stress” team, located at iBiTec-S/CEA-Saclay, has a platform dedicated to super-resolution imageryof biological samples.  Super-resolution optical techniques allow the capture of images to a resolution superior than the diffraction limit, d= λ/2, as described by Ernest Abbe in 1873 (e.g. λ = 500 nm, d = λ/2 = 250 nm).  Currently, our samples are required to be placed between a sandwich of glass coverslips (diam. 22 mm) which is then inserted into the sample holder of a Nikon Ti inverted microscope. The emitted fluorescence is captured by an EMCCD camera.  

The platform consists of:

• Coherent Chameleon ULTRA II fs laser coupled to a Chameleon compact OPO-VIS
• A.P.E. Pulse Selectors coupled to a delay line
• Coherent CW lasers (405, 488, 561 and 577 nm laser lines)
• Nikon Ti-U inverted microscopes
• Andor spectrographs and cameras