SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SELF-INTERFERENCE FLUORESENCE MICROSCOPY, AND COMPUTER-ACCESSIBLE MEDIUM ASSOCIATED THEREWITH

摘要

In general, certain exemplary embodiments of the system and method according to the present invention can facilitate high-resolution imaging by collecting the emission of a fluorophore by a lens, collimating the light into a beam that is passed through a phase element that imparts multiple, distinct wavelength-dependent phase delays over the beam wavefront. This beam is then wavelength dispersed by a prism, a grating, or other dispersive element and focused onto a spectrometer. For example, when the individual wavelength components of the beam are focused to a point oh the spectrometer, the phase-delayed components of their wave fronts interfere with each other, likely producing a wavelength-dependent, fluorescence self-interferogram. This self-interf erogram can then be analyzed by way of a Fourier transform to extract sub-diffraction resolution information. The sub-diffraction limited information is contained in the relative phase, as may be determined from the complex Fourier component of the interference.