Our partner NKT Photonics presents MINFLUX, which is a relatively new fluorescence microscopy technique that lets you distinguish between molecules just nanometers apart. Until now, MINFLUX is the most precise and most photon-efficient way to localize fluorescent molecules. In a transatlantic collaboration, two groups of scientists worked together to further improve MINFLUX nanoscopy. They invented p-MINFLUX – the pulsed interleaved MINFLUX.
The two groups that invented p-MINFLUX by simplifying the MINFLUX microscope are Professor Philip Tinnefeld’s group at the LMU Munich and Professor Fernando Stefani’s group at the University of Buenos Aires.
Professor Philip Tinnefeld explains: “With p-MINFLUX it will be possible to uncover structures and dynamics at the molecular level that are fundamental for our understanding of energy transfer processes in artificial and natural light-harvesting systems and energy conversion materials as well as in biomolecular reactions.”
To do so p-MINFLUX uses interleaved laser pulses to deliver doughnut-shaped excitation profiles in a precisely defined spatial pattern at high MHz repetition rates.
p-MINFLUX lets scientists distinguish different types of molecules and track how each molecule moves independently of other molecules.
To determine the location of a molecule, p-MINFLUX places a laser focus near it. The distance between the molecule and the center of the laser focus can then be deducted from the fluorescence intensity. Triangulation gives the exact position of the molecule. It delivers a 1−2 nm localization precision with only 2000−1000 photon counts.
Furthermore, p-MINFLUX gives access to the fluorescence lifetime information, thus enabling multiplexing super-resolved and lifetime imaging.
For more information visit our partner website https://www.nktphotonics.com/lasers-fibers/cases/super-resolution-microscopy-with-a-superk-laser/.