{"doi":"10.1101/2025.10.07.679791","title":"Single-aperture SLAM microscopy with amplitude-tailored vector beams","abstract":"Abstract Switching laser mode (SLAM) microscopy is a promising method for achieving super resolution while maintaining compatibility with two photon imaging at depth and in vivo . SLAM microscopes typically employ multiple paths for generating the requisite spot-like and donut-like beams; however, having two paths necessitates sub-wavelength-scale alignment which is prone to differential drift, causing degradation of the image quality. Here we demonstrate a single aperture, inline SLAM microscope which makes use of one phase element and polarization switching to generate colinear radially polarized and azimuthally polarized vector beams, which focus to a spot and a donut, respectively. By tailoring the spatial profile of the electric field at the back aperture of the microscope objective, we ensure that the resolution of the spot-like beam is comparable to conventional Gaussian beam imaging. Through subtraction of the two images, we demonstrate a 1.5× narrower focal spot and a resolution of ∼0.28 λ corresponding to ∼290 nm. Accordingly, this method is of great utility for imaging with sub-diffraction-limited resolution at depth in living tissue.","journal":"bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)","year":2025,"id":577172,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":0,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.952,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":369176,"name":"Iván Coto Hernández","orcid":"0000-0003-3611-7959","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":994271,"name":"J. Matthew Dubach","orcid":"0000-0002-7469-8910","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":935149,"name":"Siddharth Ramachandran","orcid":"0000-0001-9356-6377","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1201629,"name":"Jeffrey Demas","orcid":"0000-0001-6132-0188","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":36,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:58:04.622308Z","pmid":"41279099","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}