The quality of the Point Spread Function (PSF) is particularly important in single molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) methods. By correcting both optical setup and sample-induced aberrations, adaptive optics optimizes the shape of the PSF and in this way increases the number of detected photons. This directly enhances the localization precision (resolution) for these methods. In addition to that, by applying a controllable amount of perfect astigmatism, adaptive optics enables the best 3D imaging capability with excellent temporal stability. This pure astigmatism superimposed onto the corrected PSF delivers unprecedented accuracy of single molecule localization in all three dimensions. Control over aberrations allows the user to obtain the same PSF over the whole biological sample and enables unprecedented single particle tracking precision. For an easy implementation of adaptive optics into the microscope setup, Imagine Optic developed a plug and play solution: MicAO 3DSR.

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