METHOD FOR HIGH-RESOLUTION SCANNING MICROSCOPY

A method for high-resolution scanning microscopy of a sample, wherein the sample is illuminated with illumination light such that the illumination light is focused at a point in or on the sample into an illumination spot. The point is imaged into a diffraction image onto an area detector having detector elements. The area detector has a spatial resolution that resolves a diffraction structure of the diffraction image. The sample is here scanned line-wise in a grid made of rows and columns by displacing the point relative to the sample into different scanning positions with an increment width that is smaller than the diameter of the illumination spot. The area detector is read, and an image of the sample is generated from the data of the area detector and from the scanning positions assigned to said data, said image having a resolution that is increased beyond a resolution limit for imaging.