由于光学元件的衍射效应, 常规光学显微术的分辨率被限制在半波长左右, 无法满足对于亚百纳米尺度的样品进行探测的需求。受激发射损耗显微术(STED)通过引入一束损耗光以受激发射的方式减小有效荧光的发光面积, 可以实现超衍射极限的空间分辨率。自提出以来, STED显微术经过了多方面的改进和发展, 已被成功地应用于生物医学、材料学等领域, 对样品进行多功能超分辨成像。本文详细阐述了STED的机理及其中的关键技术, 综述了STED的发展历程及最新进展, 并介绍了其具体应用。

Due to the diffraction of the optical elements, the resolution of conventional optical microscopy has long been limited to about half the illumination wavelength. By introducing a depletion beam to inhibit the potential fluorescence through stimulated emission, STED microscopy is able to achieve a spatial resolution beyond the diffraction limit. Since being proposed, STED microscopy has been improved in many aspects and widely be applied in the biomedical and material researches to perform multi-functional imaging. This paper elaborates the concepts and key techniques in STED microscopy, reviews its development and latest progresses and also introduces its wide application in scientific researches.