SUPER-RESOLUTION, THREE-DIMENSIONAL MICROSCOPE

A system for obtaining a 3-D, super-resolution model of an object in an image space is provided as well as novel and nonobvious components thereof. The system includes a light source that constrains uninhibited activation light to a thin slice through the object, the object having a volume that is perpendicular to an axis of a 2-D super-resolution microscope, a means for providing relative incremental movement between the object and the thin slice of constrained uninhibited activation light, and a means for taking a super resolution picture of each incremental slice resulting from the relative incremental movement between the object and the thin slice, thereby creating a set of voxels from which an accurate 3-D super-resolution model of any fluorescent object contained within the image space can be constructed.