Fig. 1

Schematic representation of selective plane illumination microscope based on Bessel beam illumination. The inset shows a detailed sample-scanning configuration between the thin excitation plane and the sample specimen. L lens, M mirror, DF dichroic filter, AOTF acousto-optical tunable filter, GM-X galvanometer mirror in x, GM-Z′ galvanometer mirror in z′, EO excitation objective, DO detection objective, TL tube lens, CL cylindrical lens. Note: This schematic diagram is not drawn into scale. The black coordinate system (XYZ) indicates the sample orientation while the white coordinate system (X′Y′Z′) represents axes used in images taken by objective scan where X-axis overlaps with X′-axis