ABSTRACT
The resolution of far-field optical microscopies has traditionally been limited to several hundred nanometers due to the diffraction limit of light. Nevertheless, optical microscopy has remained immensely popular under biologists, chemists, physicists, and materials scientists alike because it provides the distinct advantages of (1) being relatively non-invasive and (2) chemically specific. The first advantage provides the opportunity to observe fragile samples such as live cells and soft materials in their natural environment (typically an aqueous environment). The latter advantage is achieved by chemically specific labeling of structures using the methods described in Chapter 1. This enables the observation of specific structures in an otherwise complex sample, while multi-color labeling approaches enable the study of multiple structures simultaneously.
