Optical nanoscopy with excited state saturation at liquid helium temperatures

Optical resolution of solid-state single quantum emitters at the nanometre scale is a challenging step towards the control of delocalized states formed by strongly and coherently interacting emitters. We have developed a simple super-resolution optical microscopy method operating at cryogenic temperatures, which is based on optical saturation of the excited state of single fluorescent molecules with a doughnut-shaped beam. Sub-10 nm resolution is achieved with extremely low excitation intensities, a million times lower than those used in room-temperature stimulated emission depletion microscopy. Compared with super-localization approaches, our technique offers a unique opportunity to super-resolve single molecules with overlapping optical resonance frequencies and paves the way to the study of coherent interactions between single emitters and to the manipulation of their degree of entanglement