Fluorescence enhancement and energy transfer near a metal tip

Fu Min Huang; Frederic Festy; David Richards

doi:10.1117/12.662243

20 April 2006 Fluorescence enhancement and energy transfer near a metal tip

Fu Min Huang, Frederic Festy, David Richards

Proceedings Volume 6195, Nanophotonics; 61951H (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.662243
Event: SPIE Photonics Europe, 2006, Strasbourg, France

Abstract

We investigate the mechanisms for fluorescence enhancement and energy transfer near a gold tip in apertureless scanning near-field optical microscopy (ASNOM) and provide a demonstration of sub-diffraction tip-enhanced fluorescence imaging. We have imaged the fluorescence from a single quantum dot cluster using ASNOM and find that when a sharp gold tip is brought within a few nanometres from the sample surface, the resulting enhancement in quantum dot fluorescence in the vicinity of the tip leads to a resolution of about 60 nm. We determine this enhancement of the fluorescence to be about four-fold in magnitude, which is consistent with the value calculated with a simple quasistatic model. Using this model we show that the observed enhancement of fluorescence results from a competition between enhancement and quenching, dependent on a range of experimental parameters. We also demonstrate that optical signals measured in ASNOM under ambient conditions are found to be affected significantly by the thin water layer absorbed on the surface under investigation.

Citation Download Citation

Fu Min Huang, Frederic Festy, and David Richards "Fluorescence enhancement and energy transfer near a metal tip", Proc. SPIE 6195, Nanophotonics, 61951H (20 April 2006); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.662243

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