Patent ID: 11965831
Assignee: THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, A BODY CORPORATE
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  A | IPC G

Claim 16:
17. A method for stimulated emission depletion microscopy of a fluorescent species in an object to be imaged, the fluorescent species having a fluorescence excitation wavelength, a fluorescence depletion wavelength and an fluorescence emission wavelength, the method comprising:
providing a polarization-maintaining optical fiber;
propagating excitation radiation of the fluorescence excitation wavelength in a central mode of the polarization-maintaining optical fiber;
propagating depletion radiation of the fluorescence depletion wavelength in one or more peripheral modes of the polarization-maintaining optical fiber, each of the one or more peripheral modes being a Hermite-Gaussian mode having a minimum of intensity substantially overlapping the central mode of the polarization-maintaining optical fiber, the one or more modes including a 1.0 Hermite-Gaussian mode or a 0.1 Hermite-Gaussian mode the depletion radiation propagating substantially temporally incoherently in the polarization-maintaining optical fiber;
delivering the excitation radiation and the depletion radiation from the polarization-maintaining optical fiber to the object to be imaged, with the excitation radiation forming a spot having a substantially centrally-disposed intensity maximum and depletion radiation forming an annular ring about the excitation radiation and substantially overlapping the periphery of the excitation radiation spot without substantially overlapping the centrally-disposed intensity maximum of the excitation radiation spot, wherein the excitation radiation causes emission radiation of the fluorescence emission wavelength from the object at the centrally-disposed intensity maximum of the excitation radiation spot, and the depletion radiation prevents emission of radiation of the fluorescence emission wavelength in the region of the annular depletion radiation; and
determining the intensity of the emission radiation.