Large field-of-view super-resolution imaging of endo-cellular structures through micro-beads array

This work presents a super-resolution cell imaging method that uses an array of polystyrene (PS) micro-beads lenses embedded in an elastomer thin film on top of a glass substrate. The micro-beads lens array collects reflected near-field light waves from an object´s surface and amplifies the waves to allow the formation of enlarged virtual images of the object. We have shown that object images could be magnified up to at least 5 times of the original scale while having a field-of-view of 6 ?m (for a single lens), i.e., visible light images of 200 nm features could be captured using a microscope objective lens of 100x (with overall magnification factor of 1000?). Furthermore, using the micro-beads lens array, NIH/3T3 cell internal structures have been successfully imaged under bright-field conditions, showing a much higher resolution image of the internal structures. In summary, we have shown that micro-beads lens array could resolve sub-diffraction-limit features with an overall field-of-view of at least 5000 ?m2. Hence, micro-beads lens array shows promising applications in the rapid imaging of large quantity of biomolecules and internal cell structures with wide field-of-view capability.