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Resolution and optical sectioning in the confocal microscope
Article first published online: 17 OCT 2011
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2818.2011.03549.x
© 2011 The Author Journal of Microscopy © 2011 Royal Microscopical Society
Additional Information
How to Cite
WILSON, T. (2011), Resolution and optical sectioning in the confocal microscope. Journal of Microscopy, 244: 113–121. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2818.2011.03549.x
Publication History
- Issue published online: 17 OCT 2011
- Article first published online: 17 OCT 2011
- Received 2 August 2010; accepted 19 August 2011
- Abstract
- Article
- References
- Cited By
Keywords:
- Confocal;
- microscope;
- fluorescence
Summary
In this short review, we present a self-contained discussion of the image formation properties of the fluorescent confocal microscope. The optical sectioning or depth discrimination property is discussed in detail and new analytic formulae are presented, which relate the optical sectioning strength to the wavelength, numerical aperture and pinhole aperture size in a particularly simple fashion.