Capturing the Surface Texture and Shape of Pollen: A Comparison of Microscopy Techniques
Figure 1
Point spread functions and resolution.
Empirical point spread functions of ∼0.175 µm beads using widefield, apotome, confocal and two-photon microscopy techniques for a pair (two objectives each one for widefield-apotome pair and confocal-two photon pair) of Zeiss 63× plan apochromat 1.4NA lenses. Widefield and apotome images were acquired with a rhodamine filter (546/10 excitation filter). Images show a single bead in X-Y dimensions (upper tier) and X-Z dimensions (lower tier). Graphs show line profiles of pixel intensities across the centre of each bead in X-Y dimensions. FWHM = full width at half maximum. The point spread function at FWHM represents a measure of the resolution of a microscope [30], [32].