Superresolution Structured Illumination Microscopy (SR-SIM)

How Superresolution with ELYRA S.1 works The resolving power of a light microscope is limited to approximately 200nm in the lateral (XY) and 500nm in the axial (Z) direction. This so-called diffraction limit has been fi rst described by Ernst Abbe in 1873 (reference 1) and still holds true today. In simple terms, it posits that objects cannot be resolved with a conventional light microscope if their distance is less than half the wavelength of the light used for observation (Figure 1). In recent years, there have been several successful attempts to circumvent this problem and to achieve a resolution beyond the diffraction limit. In general, technologies with a resolving power exceeding the diffraction limit are nowadays collectively referred to as Superresolution Microscopy.