Mannheim, Germany. The new superresolution system Leica TCS STED CW made its successful début in December 2009 at the 49th annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology in San Diego. A large number of highly interested scientists who followed the product demonstrations were convinced by the progressive technology with its potential to revolutionize life science research.

The Leica TCS STED CW is a stunningly simple solution - easy to use, highly affordable and available as an upgrade for already installed systems: The Leica TCS STED CW combines the high-end confocal Leica TCS SP5 with purely optical and patented superresolution technology and is characterized by its capability of high speed scanning on the nanoscale - in real time! The Leica TCS STED CW allows the usage of numerous fluorescent dyes and fluorescent proteins, which significantly extends the range of possible applications.

The basic concept of the STED CW system is based on the STED technology, which received several awards and scales down the scanning spot to sub-diffraction size by switching off fluorescence in the periphery of the excited area. Stimulated emission is based on a well-thought-out interplay of fine optics and photo physical processes and delivers superresolution in a purely optical way - on a confocal platform.

Continuous wave lasers for depletion increase the STED recording speed up to three times without any loss of superresolution performance. Researchers can now follow dynamic processes with less than 80nm spatial resolution!

Leica Microsystems' superresolution microscope Leica TCS STED CW is made for daily research and also provides a wealth of tailored solutions for specific application tasks and research environments. The workflow, which was designed in cooperation with leading scientists, and the easy operation of the system make superresolution accessible to a broad field of research.