Superresolution size determination in fluorescence microscopy: A comparison between spatially modulated illumination and confocal laser scanning microscopy

Recently developed far field light optical methods are a powerful tool to analyze biological nanostructures and their dynamics, in particular including the interior of three-dimensionally conserved cells. In this article, the recently described method of spatially modulated illumination (SMI) microscopy has been further extended to the online determination of the extension of small, subwavelength sized, fluorescent objects (nanosizing). Using fluorescence excitation with 488 nm, the determination of fluorescent labeled object diameters down to 40 nm corresponding to about 1/12th of the wavelength used for one-photon excitation could be shown. The results of the SMI nanosizing procedure for a detailed, systematic variation of the object diameter are presented together with a fast algorithm for online size evaluation. In addition, we show a direct comparison of the diameter of 'colocalization volumes' between SMI nanosizing and conventional confocal laser scanning microscopy