Technical Program

Paper Detail

Paper:	SA-AM-OS3.1
Session:	Optical Microscopy Imaging
Time:	Saturday, April 8, 09:30 - 09:50
Presentation:	Oral
Title:	A novel resolution measure for optical microscopes: stochastic analysis of the performance limits
Authors:	Sripad Ram; University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
	E. Sally Ward; University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
	Raimund J. Ober; University of Texas, Dallas
Abstract:	In the recent past, the increased use of optical microscopes in quantitative studies, such as single molecule microscopy, has generated significant interest in quantifying its performance limit. Here, by adopting an information-theoretic stochastic framework, we present expressions to calculate performance limits that quantify the capabilities of optical microscopes. We revisit the resolution problem from the stochastic framework and derive a new resolution measure. Our result, unlike Rayleigh’s criterion, predicts that the resolution of an optical microscope is not limited, but that the resolvability depends on the detected photon count. Analytical expressions are also given that take into account the deteriorating experimental factors such as pixelation and noise sources. We also consider the location estimation problem, which is of relevance for particle tracking applications.

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