A novel resolution measure for optical microscopes: Stochastic analysis of the performance limits

In the recent past, the increased use of optical microscopes in quantitative studies, such as single molecule microscopy, has generated significant interest in quantifying its performance limit. Here, by adopting an information-theoretic stochastic framework, we present expressions to calculate performance limits that quantify the capabilities of optical microscopes. We revisit the resolution problem from the stochastic framework and derive a new resolution measure. Our result, unlike Rayleigh's resolution criterion, predicts that the resolution of an optical microscope is not limited, but that the resolvability depends on the detected photon count. Analytical expressions are also given that take into account the effect of deteriorating experimental factors such as pixelation and noise sources. We also consider the location estimation problem, which is of relevance for particle tracking applications.