Abstract

In microscopy, single fluorescence point sources can be localized with a precision several times greater than the resolution limit of the microscope. We show that the intermittent fluorescence or 'blinking' of quantum dots can analyzed by an Independent Component Analysis so as to identify the light emitted by each individual nanoparticle, localize it precisely, and thereby resolve groups of closely spaced (< lambda / 30) quantum dots. Both simulated and experimental data demonstrate that this technique is superior to localization based on Maximum Likelihood Estimation of the sum image under the assumption of point emitters. This technique has general application to any emitter with non-Gaussian temporal intensity distribution, including triplet state blinking. When applied to the labeling of structures, a high resolution "image" consisting of individually localized points may be reconstructed leading to the term "Pointillism".

Keywords

Quantum dotOpticsGaussianPoint spread functionCommon emitterMicroscopyPhysicsResolution (logic)MicroscopeSuperresolutionImage resolutionImage (mathematics)Computer scienceOptoelectronicsArtificial intelligenceQuantum mechanics

Affiliated Institutions

Related Publications

Publication Info

Year
2005
Type
article
Volume
13
Issue
18
Pages
7052-7052
Citations
362
Access
Closed

External Links

View on DOI.org

Social Impact

Altmetric
PlumX Metrics

Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions

Citation Metrics

362
OpenAlex

Cite This

Keith A. Lidke, Bernd Rieger, Thomas M. Jovin et al. (2005). Superresolution by localization of quantum dots using blinking statistics. Optics Express , 13 (18) , 7052-7052. https://doi.org/10.1364/opex.13.007052

Identifiers

DOI
10.1364/opex.13.007052