title: Stochastic transfer function: application to fluorescence microscopy.
abstract: We develop the concept of the stochastic transfer function (STF) and its application to high-resolution fluorescence microscopy. The STF is directly related to the conventional optical transfer functions but incorporates a probability density function at each spatial frequency. The mean of the STF yields the conventional transfer function; the variance of the STF gives a measure of the noise associated at each spatial frequency. The STF thus provides a more complete picture of the microscope performance in comparison with conventional transfer functions. Here we present the STF for a wide-field fluorescent microscope using both Monte Carlo simulation and probability theory.
authors: Institute of Biophysics, Imaging and Optical Science, The University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, UK.
authors: Ken
authors: K
authors: Hsu
authors: Michael G
authors: MG
authors: Somekh
authors: Mark C
authors: MC
authors: Pitter
mesh_terms: D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods*; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D011336:Probability; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013269:Stochastic Processes