Ground State Depletion Nanoscopy Resolves Semiconductor Nanowire Barcode Segments at Room Temperature

Abstract

Nanowires hold great promise as tools for probing and interacting with various molecular and biological systems. Their unique geometrical properties (typically <100 nm in diameter and a few micrometers in length) enable minimally invasive interactions with living cells, so that electrical signals or forces can be monitored. All such experiments require in situ high-resolution imaging to provide context. While there is a clear need to extend visualization capabilities to the nanoscale, no suitable super-resolution far-field photoluminescence microscopy of extended semiconductor emitters has been described. Here, we report that ground state depletion (GSD) nanoscopy resolves heterostructured semiconductor nanowires formed by alternating GaP/GaInP segments (“barcodes”) at a 5-fold resolution enhancement over confocal imaging. We quantify the resolution and contrast dependence on the dimensions of GaInP photoluminescence segments and illustrate the effects by imaging different nanowire barcode geometries. The far-red excitation wavelength (∼700 nm) and low excitation power (∼3 mW) make GSD nanoscopy attractive for imaging semiconductor structures in biological applications.

All-optical control and super-resolution imaging of quantum emitters in layered materials

“…The minimum in intensity yields an inverse image of the emitter with a spatial resolution that exceeds the diffraction limit. The mathematical deconvolution 27 (cf. Methods) of the negative GSD image (Fig.…”

Cellular traction forces: a useful parameter in cancer research

“…GaInP nanowire segments have been shown to exhibit bright near infra-red photoluminescence with negligible bleaching and are therefore well-suited when stable emission is required during longitudinal measurements. [21][22][23] The fact that only the tip of the nanowire emits light allows for small variations in focus to occur without any loss of precision in the force estimation based on the localization of the nanowire tip.…”

Versatile design and synthesis of nano-barcodes

“…Upon excitation, the electrons get transferred from the valence band to the conduction band, which was designated as the on (signalling) state and the transfer of the electrons out of the valence band was named the off (non-signalling) state. 266 Super-resolution imaging was also developed using the patternmatching technique that was based on the fluorescence decay and spectra and patterns of fluorescent dyes. Here, ATTO 488, Alexa Fluor 488 dyes, and ATTO 490LS with lifetimes of 4.07 ns, 4.16 ns, and 2.63 ns, respectively were chosen for the multiplexed superresolution imaging.…”