KIT | KIT-Bibliothek | Impressum | Datenschutz

Deep Volumetric Super‐Resolution Imaging in Thick Biological Specimens With Sparse Scanning SIM

An, Sha; Guo, Xuhong; Cai, Zhongxia; Lei, Yunze; Wen, Kai; Suo, Hongfei; Kong, Xiaoyu; Nienhaus, Gerd Ulrich ORCID iD icon 1,2,3; Gao, Peng
1 Institut für Angewandte Physik (APH), Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
2 Institut für Nanotechnologie (INT), Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
3 Institut für Biologische und Chemische Systeme (IBCS), Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)

Abstract:

High-resolution fluorescence microscopy deep inside thick, live specimens remains a major challenge due to scattering and limited penetration depth. Structured illumination microscopy (SIM) is widely used for fast super-resolution imaging, yet its sensitivity to scattering strongly restricts volumetric applications. Here we present sparse scanning SIM (SS-SIM), a variant for deep imaging that integrates rapid laser beam scanning with pixel-addressed intensity modulation and sCMOS detection. SS-SIM operates with either one- or two-photon excitation and achieves a spatial resolution of ∼150 nm, and maintains a 1.6/1.7-fold (lateral/axial) resolution enhancement over wide-field microscopy throughout the available imaging depth limited by the working distances of our water-immersion objectives (300/600 µm), enabling volumetric visualization of dense biological samples. By combining simplicity, robustness, and super-resolution performance, SS-SIM expands the applicability of SIM to thick tissues, organoids, and small organisms, providing a practical route to high-contrast volumetric imaging in complex biological environments.


Verlagsausgabe §
DOI: 10.5445/IR/1000192812
Veröffentlicht am 30.04.2026
Cover der Publikation
Zugehörige Institution(en) am KIT Institut für Angewandte Physik (APH)
Institut für Biologische und Chemische Systeme (IBCS)
Institut für Nanotechnologie (INT)
Publikationstyp Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Publikationsjahr 2026
Sprache Englisch
Identifikator ISSN: 2198-3844
KITopen-ID: 1000192812
Erschienen in Advanced Science
Verlag Wiley Open Access
Vorab online veröffentlicht am 23.02.2026
Schlagwörter deep super-resolution imaging, resonant scanning, structured illumination microscopy
Nachgewiesen in OpenAlex
Scopus
KIT – Die Universität in der Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft
KITopen Landing Page