The rapidSTORM software is a single-molecule localization microscopy evaluation software. Its aim is to identify single fluorophores in sequences of images of sparsely emitting samples. Such images are generated by techniques such as dSTORM, STORM, PALM and FPALM and are used there to achieve super-resolution imaging. Since a sequence usually consists of several thousand images and nanometre precision is necessary for super-resolution, computational speed and precision are both extremely important. Delivering these attributes is the goal of rapidSTORM.
rapidSTORM aims to support both three-dimensional imaging and spectral unmixing applications. Three-dimensional imaging refers to the computation of individual fluorophore's Z positions via the observation of shape changes in the point spread function. Both astigmatic and multi-layer approaches are supported here. Spectral unmixing refers to distinguishing multiple fluorophore types by their differential emission strength in multiple optical detection paths. For example, a dichroic mirror might be used to project the red part of the fluorescence on one camera and the blue part on a second camera.
rapidSTORM is not meant as an all-purpose evaluation tool for super-resolution microscopy or as a camera driver. It is, however, designed to play nice with other systems and has a good number of evaluation options built in. You are encouraged to interface the direct camera input driver with a camera system or use the different output options for necessary control systems.
You can find discussions, help, advice and announcements for rapidSTORM on the rapidstorm-discuss mailing list. The source code is available from the GitHub repository. Bugs can be reported at the GitHub issue tracker.