Resolution enchancement in confocal microscopy using Bessel-Gauss beams

Laser scanning microscopy is limited in lateral resolution by the diffraction of light. We show that the use of Bessel-Gauss beams leads to a resolution enhancement of 20% in confocal microscopy. Advantages of this technique include simplicity of installation and use, polarization independence, compatibility with other resolution enhancement and superresolution techniques. We have demonstrated the resolution enhancement capabilities of Bessel-Gauss beams both theoretically and experimentally on nano-spheres and tissue samples. Because of the polarization independence of the technique we can focus Bessel-Gauss beams of different orders and further improve an existing resolution enhancement technique (SLAM: Switching LAser Modes). We also show that using Bessel-Gauss beams for a statistical colocalization analysis leads to less false positive results than using Gaussian beam.