Figure 7.

Pointlike emitter optical response. From left to right: calculated x-y (above) and r-z (below) intensity distributions, in logarithmic scale, for a point like source imaged by means of wide-field, 2PE and confocal microscopy. Both 2PE and confocal shapes exhibit a better signal to noise ratio than widefield case. 2PE distribution is larger due the fact that a wavelength twice than in the wide-field and confocal case is responsible for the intensity distribution. Such intensity distributions are also known as point spread functions of the related microscopes. Optical conditions: excitation wavelengths are 488 nm and 900 nm for 1PE and 2PE, respectively; emission wavelength is 520 nm; numerical aperture is 1.3 for an oil immersion objective with oil refractive index value set at 1.515.