Multiple excitation nano-spot generation and confocal detection for far-field microscopy

An imaging technique is developed for the controlled generation of multiple excitation nano-spots for far-field microscopy. The system point spread function (PSF) is obtained by interfering two counter-propagating extended depth-of-focus PSF (DoF-PSF), resulting in highly localized multiple excitation spots along the optical axis. The technique permits (1) simultaneous excitation of multiple planes in the specimen; (2) control of the number of spots by confocal detection; and (3) overcoming the point-by-point based excitation. Fluorescence detection from the excitation spots can be efficiently achieved by Z-scanning the detector/pinhole assembly. The technique complements most of the bioimaging techniques and may find potential application in high resolution fluorescence microscopy and nanoscale imaging.