Patent ID: 7679741

Claim:
A method for high spatial resolution examination of a sample, the sample to be examined comprising a substance that can be repeatedly converted from a first state into a second state, the first and the second states differing from one another in at least one optical property, comprising: firstly bringing a sample region of the substance to be recorded into the first state; and inducing the second state by an optical signal imaged by an objective, wherein spatially delimited subregions are specifically excluded within the sample region to be recorded, wherein the optical signal is provided in the form of a focal line with a cross-sectional profile having at least one intensity zero point with laterally neighboring intensity maxima, wherein the focal line is produced by a linear illumination in a pupil plane conjugate with the pupil of the objective and by suitable phase modulation along a pupil line of the pupil, and wherein the phase modulation is undertaken in such a way that one or more phase jumps are introduced along the pupil line.