Aplanatic Solid Immersion Lens for Cryogenic Super-Resolution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional microscopy techniques face limitations in achieving high resolution at cryogenic temperatures due to the unsuitability of wet immersion fluids for low temperatures, which hinders the improvement of super-resolution microscopy.
Innovation Solution
The use of aplanatic solid immersion lenses in super-resolution microscopy at cryogenic temperatures, enhancing the numerical aperture and allowing for resolutions beyond the diffraction limit, particularly with single molecule localization techniques, and enabling correlative imaging with electron microscopy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If wet immersion objective lenses are used to improve resolution, then numerical aperture increases and resolution improves, but the immersion fluids are not suitable for cryogenic temperatures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical state parameter of the immersion medium from liquid to solid, enabling the system to function at cryogenic temperatures where liquid immersion fluids would freeze or become unsuitable. Solid immersion lenses maintain their optical properties at low temperatures while providing the necessary refractive index enhancement.
Solution Approach 2:
The solid immersion lens acts as an intermediary optical element between the objective lens and the sample, providing the refractive index enhancement normally achieved by immersion fluids without requiring temperature-compatible liquid media. The solid lens material (such as sapphire or diamond) serves as a mediator that enables high numerical aperture at cryogenic temperatures.
2Adaptability or versatility
If solid immersion lenses are used to enable cryogenic imaging, then temperature compatibility is achieved, but the aplanatic design is required to maintain image quality
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a spherical or spheroidal geometry for the solid immersion lens, which naturally provides the aplanatic properties needed to eliminate spherical aberration and other optical distortions. The curved surface configuration is mathematically optimized to maintain focus and image quality across the field of view at cryogenic temperatures.
3Reliability
If super-resolution microscopy is performed at cryogenic temperatures, then biological samples are preserved in near-native state, but resolution is limited by diffraction
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the refractive index parameter by introducing a solid immersion lens with high refractive index material, which increases the numerical aperture of the optical system. This parameter change allows the system to overcome the diffraction limit and achieve super-resolution while maintaining cryogenic sample preservation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables image resolutions of a few tens of nanometers, facilitating high-throughput imaging and combining super-resolution optical microscopy with electron microscopy for biological samples preserved in a near-native state.
Implementation Method 1
The achievable spatial resolution therefore depends on optical parameters such as the numerical aperture of the objective lens, and this can be increased in various ways such as by using liquid immersion techniques in which a fluid of high refractive index is used to optically couple the objective lens and the sample to be imaged
Implementation Method 2
The resolution of conventional microscopy is limited due to the diffraction of light, with the achievable spatial resolution being approximately determined by the Abbe diffraction limit
Implementation Method 3
It is often desirable to carry out such super-resolution microscopy techniques at cryogenic temperatures, for example to enable accurate imaging of vitrified biological samples
Data Source
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AI summary
We describe a super-resolution optical microscopy technique in which a sample is located on or adjacent to the planar surface of an aplanatic solid immersion lens and placed in a cryogenic environment.