Generalized stepwise optical saturation enables super-resolution fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy

We present a novel super-resolution fluorescence lifetime microscopy technique called generalized stepwise optical saturation (GSOS) that generalizes and extends the concept of the recently demonstrated stepwise optical saturation (SOS) super-resolution microscopy [Biomed. Opt. Express9, 1613 (2018)]. The theoretical basis of GSOS is developed based on exploring the dynamics of a two-level fluorophore model and using perturbation theory. We show that although both SOS and GSOS utilize the linear combination of M raw images to increase the imaging resolution by a factor of $$ , SOS is a special and the simplest case of GSOS. The super-resolution capability is demonstrated with theoretical analysis and numerical simulations for GSOS with sinusoidal and pulse-train modulations. Using GSOS with pulse-train modulation, super-resolution and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) images can be obtained simultaneously. The super-resolution FLIM capability is experimentally demonstrated with a cell sample on a custom-built two-photon frequency-domain (FD) FLIM system based on radio frequency analog signal processing. To our knowledge, this is the first implementation of super-resolution imaging in FD-FLIM.