Super-resolution nanoscopy by coherent control on nanoparticle emission

Super-resolution nanoscopy based on wide-field microscopic imaging provided high efficiency but limited resolution. Here, we demonstrate a general strategy to push its resolution down to ~50 nm, which is close to the range of single molecular localization microscopy, without sacrificing the wide-field imaging advantage. It is done by actively and simultaneously modulating the characteristic emission of each individual emitter at high density. This method is based on the principle of excited state coherent control on single-particle two-photon fluorescence. In addition, the modulation efficiently suppresses the noise for imaging. The capability of the method is verified both in simulation and in experiments on ZnCdS quantum dot–labeled films and COS7 cells. The principle of coherent control is generally applicable to single-multiphoton imaging and various probes.