This paper proposes a simple, effective, non-scanning method for the visualization of a cell-attached nanointerface. The method uses localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) excited homogeneously on a two-dimensional (2D) self-assembled gold-nanoparticle sheet. The LSPR of the gold-nanoparticle sheet provides high-contrast interfacial images due to the confined light within a region a few tens of nanometers from the particles and the enhancement of fluorescence. Test experiments on rat basophilic leukemia (RBL-2H3) cells with fluorescence-labeled actin filaments revealed high axial and lateral resolution even under a regular epifluorescence microscope, which produced higher quality images than those captured under a total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscope. This non-scanning-type, high-resolution imaging method will be an effective tool for monitoring interfacial phenomena that exhibit relatively rapid reaction kinetics in various cellular and molecular dynamics.

Rapid structural analysis of nanoscale matter in a liquid environment represents innovative technologies that reveal the identities and functions of biologically important molecules. However, there is currently no method with high spatio-temporal resolution that can scan individual particles in solutions to gain structural information. Here we report the development of a nanopore platform realizing quantitative structural analysis for suspended nanomaterials in solutions with a high z-axis and xy-plane spatial resolution of 35.8 ± 1.1 and 12 nm, respectively. We used a low thickness-to-diameter aspect ratio pore architecture for achieving cross sectional areas of analyte (i.e. tomograms). Combining this with multiphysics simulation methods to translate ionic current data into tomograms, we demonstrated rapid structural analysis of single polystyrene (Pst) beads and single dumbbell-like Pst beads in aqueous solutions.

Time-resolved temperature-dependent transmission changes were measured for both pristine C60 and electron-beam-irradiated C60 polymer films using an optical pump-probe technique. Only the signals obtained for the C60 polymer show a temperature-dependent slow decay, which appears in the low temperature region below ∼60K. This slow decay component exhibits a monotonic increase in both relaxation time and amplitude with decreasing temperature, providing evidence of gap formation associated with ordering fluctuations.

In this study, we observed the peak splitting of absorption spectra for two-dimensional sheets of silver nanoparticles due to the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) effect. This unique optical phenomenon was observed for the multilayered nanosheets up to 20 layers on a metal substrate, while this phenomenon was not observed on a transparent substrate. The wavelength and intensities of the split peaks depend on the number of layers, and the experimental results were well reproduced by the calculation of the Transfer-Matrix method by employing the effective medium approximation. The Ag nanosheets used in this study can act as a plasmonic metamaterial light absorber, which has a such large oscillator strength. This phenomenon is a fundamental optical property of a thin film on a metal substrate but has never been observed because native materials do not have a large oscillator strength. This new type of EIT effect using a plasmonic metamaterial light absorber presents the potential for the development of future optic and photonic technologies.