PULSE SHAPING FOR STIMULATED EMISSION DEPLETION MICROSCOPY
Disclosed herein is a pulse-shaping method for stimulated emission depletion (STED) mi-croscpy. The method comprises generating an optical excitation/depletion pulse with a depletion wavelength λ<sub>d</sub>; splitting the excitation/depletion pulse in time into an excitation part and a depletion part such that the excitation part and the depletion part propagate along an optical axis and are separated by a time delay Δt; creating an effective phase difference Δϕ between the excitation part and the depletion part; and focusing the excitation part and the depletion part of the excitation/depletion pulse onto a focus point, wherein the time delay Δt and the effective phase difference Δϕ are chosen such that an intensity distribution of the excitation/depletion pulse has a local maximum at the focus point at a first time and a local minimum at the focus point at a second time.