Click on the images below to compare the resolutions possible using different super-resolution techniuqes.

Instant SIM (iSIM)

Instant SIM is a technique pioneered by York et al and developed commercially by Visitech International Ltd. The concept uses the Image Scanning Microscopy (ISM) approach described mathematically by Colin Sheppard in 1988. The technology creates a super-resolution image in analogue form using optics alone so that the image produced by the camera requires no reconstruction, although deconvolution improves the resolution further.

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In Stimulated Emission Depletion a (usually) doughnut-shaped depletion laser is used to stimulate re-emission of excitation photons from a region around the periphery of the excitation spot of a laser scanning microscope, effectively making the excitation spot smaller and allowing the microscope to scan at a higher resolution. Resolution increases with depletion laser power and very high laser powers are needed. Time-gating of the detectors improves resolution further by eliminating the small amount of fluorescence emission in the region of the doughnut, which makes it possible to reduce the depletion laser power.

For STED at the LMCB, use the Leica STED.