Three-dimensional resolution and contrast-enhanced confocal microscopy with array detection.

What we believe is a novel method for improving confocal microscopy's resolution and contrast in 3D space is proposed. Based on a conventional confocal microscopy setup, we use an array detector composed of 32 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) to replace one point-detector, where the location offset of each PMT caused a different effective point spread function (PSF). By applying array detection and the fluorescence emission difference method of an image with a solid PSF and another with a donut-shaped PSF, we can enhance lateral resolution about 27% in real time with only one scan, and improve the axial resolving ability by about 22% simultaneously. Experimental results of both fluorescent beads and living cells are presented to verify the applicability and effectiveness of our method.