Virtual slit scanning microscopy.
We present a novel slit scanning confocal microscope with a CCD camera image sensor and a virtual slit aperture for descanning that can be adjusted during post-processing. A very efficient data structure and mathematical criteria for aligning the virtual aperture guarantee the ease of use. We further introduce a method to reduce the anisotropic lateral resolution of slit scanning microscopes. System performance is evaluated against a spinning disk confocal microscope on identical specimens. The virtual slit scanning microscope works as the spinning disk type and outperforms on thick specimens.
Fiolka
Reto
R
Nanotechnology Group, ETH Zurich, Tannenstrasse 3, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland.
Stemmer
Andreas
A
Belyaev
Yury
Y
D004867:Equipment Design; D006367:HeLa Cells / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D006801:Humans; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal / Q000379:methods; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014584:User-Computer Interface