The Point Spread Function

If you want to understand microscopy, you gotta understand the PSF. The PSF is the basis for many practical and theoretical concepts in light microscopy, both basic and advanced.

Movies focusing on airy disk and 3D reconstruction of PSF were created by Talley Lambert.
Images of cells expressing GFP-tubulin by Talley Lambert.
Image of Abbe statue and diffraction gifs are from Wikipedia.
French subtitles were provided by BioImaging North America.

0:00 Intro
0:24 Definition of resolution
1:39 Close look at a PSF
3:40 PSF results from diffraction & interference
6:16 Diffraction in the microscope
7:09 The effect of the PSF on your images
7:42 Resolution equations
8:54 Rayleigh criterion
9:47 Size of PSF
10:13 Convolution