Beyond the Limits!

The new Leica TCS STED opens up the access to resolve the finest structures beyond the diffraction limit without any image computation!

With the integration of the groundbreaking STED concept into the approved broadband confocal platform Leica TCS SP5 a new class of microscope has been created. The superresolution capacity of the Leica TCS STED allows confocal imaging with a resolution 2 to 3 times higher than could ever be achieved in a conventional scanning microscope without compromising on usability. This means: superresolution at a mouse click!

The Leica TCS STED breaks the diffraction limited resolution of a light microscope by downsizing the diameter of the fluorescence spot, that determines the resolution, by a doughnut shaped pulsed depletion laser beam, tightly synchronized with the excitation light pulse.

With this technique it is possible to resolve protein complexes smaller than 90 nm and to gain new information for instance about the construction of synapses and membrane domains.