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Updated: Apr 14, 2026

Whole-cell Super-Resolution Imaging via DNA-PAINT on a Spinning Disk Confocal with Optical Photon Reassignment
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Super-resolution imaging of limited-size objects.

Taeyong Chang1, Giorgio Adamo1,2, Nikolay I Zheludev1,2,3

  • 1Centre for Disruptive Photonic Technologies, SPMS and TPI, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.

Nature Photonics
|April 13, 2026
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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Knowing an object's size limit enables super-resolution microscopy beyond the diffraction limit. This limited-size object microscopy (LSOM) technique achieves high resolution for nano-objects without labels.

Keywords:
Imaging and sensingSub-wavelength opticsSuper-resolution microscopy

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Area of Science:

  • Optics and Photonics
  • Microscopy
  • Nanotechnology

Background:

  • Super-resolution imaging typically requires prior knowledge like object sparsity or using databases of similar objects.
  • Overcoming the Abbe-Rayleigh diffraction limit is a key challenge in far-field microscopy.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To demonstrate that knowledge of an object's limited spatial extent is sufficient for surpassing the diffraction limit.
  • To develop and validate a novel microscopy technique for enhanced resolution of isolated nano-objects.

Main Methods:

  • Development of a limited-size object microscopy (LSOM) technique.
  • Utilizing Slepian-Pollak functions to represent scattered fields within a limited field of view.
  • Recovering object information from diffraction-limited measurements.

Main Results:

  • Experimental demonstration of resolution down to λ/8 for subwavelength structures.
  • Analysis of performance limits using information theory.
  • Achieved higher spatial resolution for smaller objects under a fixed photon budget.

Conclusions:

  • Limited spatial extent is a sufficient prior for super-resolution imaging.
  • LSOM technique offers broad applicability for label-free imaging of isolated nano-objects.
  • The method requires no assumptions on object shape or complexity.