Diffraction Tomography From Single-Molecule Localization Microscopy: Numerical Feasibility

Single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) is a fluorescence microscopy technique that achieves super-resolution imaging by sequentially activating and localizing random sparse subsets of fluorophores. Each activated fluorophore emits light that then scatters through the sample, thus acting as a source of illumination from inside the sample. Hence, the sequence of SMLM frames carries information on the distribution of the refractive index of the sample. In this proof-of-concept work, we explore the possibility of exploiting this information to recover the refractive index of the imaged sample, given the localized molecules. Our results with simulated data suggest that it is possible to exploit the phase information that underlies the SMLM data.