As a scanning microscope, STimulated Emission Depletion (STED) nanoscopy needs parallelization for fast wide-field imaging. Using well-designed optical lattices for depletion together with wide-field excitation and a fast camera for detection, we achieve large parallelization of STED nanoscopy. Wide field of view super-resolved images are acquired by scanning over a single unit cell of the optical lattice, which can be as small as 290 nm * 290 nm. Optical Lattice STED (OL-STED) imaging is demonstrated with a resolution down to 70 nm at 12.5 frames per second.
We report measurements of ultrahigh quality factors (Q-factors) of the optical whispering-gallery modes excited via a tapered optical-fiber waveguide in single glycerol-water microdroplets standing on a superhydrophobic surface in air. Owing to the high contact angle of the glycerol-water mixture on the superhydrophobic surface (>155°), microdroplets with the geometry of a truncated sphere minimally distorted by gravity and contact line pinning effects could be generated. Q-factors up to 2.3 × 10 6 were observed for such droplets with radii of 100-200 μm exposed to the ambient atmosphere in a closed chamber with controlled relative humidity. Placement of microdroplets in a constant humidity environment permitted prolonged characterization of Q-factors for individual microdroplets. We found that the Q-factors in air were stable over more than 1 h and their measured values were limited mostly by the thermally induced droplet shape fluctuations.
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