Total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy is an evanescent field based microscope. It has been used to image cell-substrate contacts with an axial resolution around 1 nm. However. it has several disadvantages which makes it difficult to be used by biologists. Another evanescent based fluorescence microscope is waveguide optical microscope. Our group is planning to set-up this new microscope and will use it for imaging cell-substrate contacts as an alternative to total internal reflection.
