SIM Theory and Glossary of Terms¶
Structured Illumination Microscopy achieves optical sectioning at double the conventional resolution. This is achieved by collecting data using a series of illumination patterns (typically stripes) of different phases and angles 1. The illumination pattern interacts with real structures in the image leading to observable patterns that report on structural information beyond the resolution limit. By systematically sampling all the frequencies necessary to produce a super-resolution image in this way, and shifting the high-frequency information back to the correct position in frequency space, these separate components can be combined to reconstruct a single super-resolution image. 3D SIM 2 uses 5 phases and 3 or 5 angles to achieve a resolution doubling both laterally (XY) and axially (Z).
Glossary of Terms & Abbreviations¶
- DFT
Discrete Fourier Transform
- FFT
Fast Fourier Transform
- LUT
Look Up Table
- SIM
Structured illumination Microscopy