Optimal correlation order in super-resolution optical fluctuation microscopy

TL;DR

This paper investigates the limits of super-resolution optical fluctuation microscopy, revealing that increasing cumulant order does not always improve resolution and identifying an optimal order for different source configurations.

Contribution

It demonstrates that there is an optimal correlation order in super-resolution microscopy beyond which no further resolution gain occurs, challenging previous assumptions.

Findings

Resolution saturation occurs at a certain cumulant order for multiple sources.

Two-source objects still benefit from higher cumulant orders.

Super-resolution enhancement is limited by information bounds.

Abstract

Here, we show that, contrary to the common opinion, the super-resolution optical fluctuation microscopy might not lead to ideally infinite super-resolution enhancement with increasing of the order of measured cumulants. Using information analysis for estimating error bounds on the determination of point sources positions, we show that reachable precision per measurement might be saturated with increasing of the order of the measured cumulants in the super-resolution regime. In fact, there is an optimal correlation order beyond which there is practically no improvement for objects of three and more point sources. However, for objects of just two sources, one still has an intuitively expected resolution increase with the cumulant order.