Instant super-resolution imaging in live cells and embryos via analog image processing

Existing super-resolution fluorescence microscopes compromise acquisition speed to provide subdiffractive sample information. We report an analog implementation of structured illumination microscopy that enables 3D super-resolution imaging with 145 nm lateral and 350 nm axial resolution, at acquisition speeds up to 100 Hz.

By performing image processing operations optically instead of digitally, we removed the need to capture, store, and combine multiple camera exposures, increasing data acquisition rates 10–100x over other super-resolution microscopes and acquiring and displaying super-resolution images in real-time.

Low excitation intensities allow imaging over hundreds of 2D sections, and combined physical and computational sectioning allow similar depth penetration to confocal microscopy. We demonstrate the capability of our system by imaging fine, rapidly moving structures including motor-driven organelles in human lung fibroblasts and the cytoskeleton of flowing blood cells within developing zebrafish embryos.