For super-resolution microscopy methods based on single molecule stochastic switching and localization, to simultaneously improve the spatial-temporal resolution, it is necessary to maximize the number of photons that can be collected from single molecules per unit time. Here, we describe a novel approach to enhance the signal intensity (collected photons per second) from fluorescence probes by introducing a stimulated emission (SE) optical process. This process is based on the following two properties: first, with reasonable parameters, the photon emission rate can be significantly increased with SE; and second, the SE photons, which are spatially coherent with the stimulation beam, are more favorable for collection than fluorescence. Theoretical results have shown that signal intensity from a single fluorescent molecule can be greatly improved with SE. We therefore showed, using SE in combination with single molecule localization methodology, that fast imaging at a rate of 0.05 s per reconstructed image with lateral resolutions of similar to 30 nm can be obtained. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America
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