ar X iv : 1 00 5 . 15 76 v 2 [ qu an t - ph ] 1 S ep 2 01 0 Twin - Photon Confocal Microscopy

A recently introduced two-channel confocal microscope with correlated detection promises up to 50% improvement in transverse spatial resolution [Simon, Sergienko, Optics Express 18, 9765 (2010)] via the use of photon correlations. Here we achieve similar results in a different manner, introducing a triple-confocal correlated microscope which exploits the correlations present in optical parametric amplifiers. It is based on tight focusing of pump radiation onto a thin sample positioned in front of a nonlinear crystal, followed by coincidence detection of signal and idler photons, each focused onto a pinhole. This approach offers further resolution enhancement in confocal microscopy. © 2010 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: (180.1790) Confocal microscopy; (180.5810) Scanning microscopy; (190.4970) Parametric oscillators and amplifiers. References and links [1] D.S. Simon, A.V. Sergienko, ”The Correlation Confocal Microscope,” Optics Express 18, 9765-9779 (2010). [2] W. Denk, J. Strickler, W.W. Webb, ”Two-photon Laser Scanning Fluorescence Microscopy,” Science 248, 73-76 (1990). [3] W. Denk, K. Svoboda, Photon Upmanship: Why Multiphoton Imaging is More than a Gimmick, Neuron 18, 351-357 (1997). [4] T.B. Pittman, D.V. Strekalov, D.N. Klyshko, M.H. Rubin, A.V. Sergienko, Y.H. Shih, ”Two-photon geometric optics,” Phys. Rev. A 53, 2804-2815 (1996). [5] W. Lukosz, ”Optical systems with resolving powers exceeding the classical limit”, J. Opt. Soc. Am. 56 1463-1472 (1966). [6] R. Heintzmann, M.G.L. Gustafsson, ”Subdiffraction resolution in continuous samples”, Nature Photonics 3, 362364 (2009). [7] P. Török, T. Wilson, ”Rigorous theory for axial resolution in confocal microscopes”, Opt. Comm. 137, 127-135 (1997). [8] T. Wilson, R. Juškaitis, P. Higdon, ”The imaging of dielectric point scatterers in conventional and confocal microscopes”, Opt. Comm. 141, 298-313 (1997). [9] P. Török, P.D. Higdon, T. Wilson, ”On the general properties of polarized light conventional and confocal microscopes”, Opt. Comm. 148, 300-315 (1998). [10] P. Török, P.D. Higdon, T. Wilson, ”Theory for confocal and conventional microscopes imaging small dielectric scatterers”, J. Mod. Opt. 45, 1681-1698 (1998). [11] C.J.R. Sheppard, J.Felix Aguilar, ”Electromagnetic imaging in the confocal microscope”, Opt. Comm. 180, 1-8 (2000).