Imaging on the nanoscale: Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy

Although the resolution of a light microscope is fundamentally limited by diffraction to about half of the wavelength of light, in recent years several techniques have been developed that can overcome this limitation in fluorescence microscopy, allowing imaging with nanometre scale resolution. Many of these techniques are based on photoswitchable molecules that can switch between a bright, fluorescent and a dark, nonfluorescent state. Some of these techniques, as well as their limitations, are discussed.