[Task] To provide a super-resolution microscope whereby the light source of pump light and erase light can be selected easily and a super-resolution can be reliably achieved through a simple and inexpensive arrangement.
[Solution of the Task] A super-resolution microscope includes an optical system (3, 4, 9) for combining a part of a first coherent light from a first light source (2) and a part of a second coherent light from a second light source (1) and focusing the coherent lights onto a sample (10), scanning means (6, 7) for scanning the coherent lights, and detecting means (16) for detecting an optical response signal from the sample (10). The microscope is configured so as to satisfy the following conditions:
σ01Ipτ≦1, and
0.65(λe/λp)≦τσdipIe
where λp is the wavelength of the first coherent light, λe is the wavelength of the second coherent light, τ is the excited lifetime in which the molecule is excited by the first coherent light from the ground state to the first electron-excited state, Ip is the maximum photon flux on the sample surface of the first coherent light, Ie is the maximum photon flux on the sample surface of the second coherent light, σ01, is the absorption cross-sectional area when the molecule is exited from the ground state to the first electron-excited state, and σdip is the fluorescence suppression cross-sectional area.