3D resolution improvement in confocal microscopy by mirror refection interference and fluorescence emission difference

•We propose what we believe is a novel method that utilizes mirror refection interference and fluorescence emission difference method to enhance 3D resolution.•The lateral resolution of this method close to 0.218λ and axial resolution close to 0.205λ are possible for practical confocal microscopy with visible light. Furthermore, the SNR has also been improved.•3.Compared with other resolution enhancement technologies, this method is much simpler and doesn't need strong lasers.