Near-field intra-cellular apertureless tomographic imaging

Abstract

A method and apparatus for near-field intra-cellular apertureless tomographic imaging uses sub-wavelength nano-particle in a cell which generates tomographic projections. A detector detects and collects high-frequency details from evanescent field interactions of the nano-particle with surrounding molecules and provides near-field imagery of a cell volume. The detector may be a detector ring movably/pivotably disposed near the cell or it may be a discrete detector. The discrete detector may be coupled to a microscope with high NA objective coupled for minimizing solid angles of collected photons from each tomographic projection. A rotating platform may hold the cell substrate. The nano-particle is a sub-wavelength scattering fluorescent particle producing fluorescent rays that exit the cell and impinge on the detector. The tomographic projection provides tomographic views of molecules or cell structure with the help of the particle in the cell.