A Method For Achieving Super Resolution Vibrational Sum-Frequency Generation Microscopy By Structured Illumination

A scheme was proposed to achieve wide-field vibrational sum-frequency generation (SFG) microscopy with subdiffraction-limited resolution in one dimension. In this approach, samples are illuminated with a structured visible field and a uniform IR field to induce vibrational sum-frequency generation. With five raw images acquired at five different phases of the visible stripe pattern, a super-resolved vibrational SFG (SR-SFG) image with the resolution triple to that of the original can be reconstructed. Theoretical framework describing the coherent image formation and reconstruction scheme for the SR-SFG imaging system was derived and carried out with numerical simulations to investigate its imaging performance. With a typical imaging system, the lateral resolution was improved from 390 nm of the conventional SFG imaging system, to around 130 nm of the SR-SFG imaging system.