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Updated: Jun 8, 2026

Fluorescence Imaging with One-nanometer Accuracy (FIONA)
Published on: September 26, 2014
Far-field autofluorescence nanoscopy
Jakob Bierwagen1, Ilaria Testa, Jonas Fölling
1Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Department of NanoBiophotonics, Am Fassberg 11, 37077 Gttingen, Germany.
Abstract:
We demonstrate far-field optical imaging at the nanoscale with unlabeled samples. Subdiffraction resolution images of autofluorescent samples are obtained by depleting the ground state of natural fluorophores by transferring them to a metastable dark state and simultaneously localizing those fluorophores that are transiently returning. Our approach is based on the insight that nanoscopy methods relying on stochastic single-molecule switching require only a single fluorescence on-off cycle to yield an image, a condition fulfilled by various biomolecules. The method is exemplified by recording label-free nanoscopy images of thylakoid membranes of spinach chloroplasts.
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