Near-Field Optical Spectroscopy of Individual Molecules in Solids

Moerner, W. E.; Plakhotnik, Taras; Irngartinger, Thomas; Wild, Urs P.; Pohl, Dieter; Hecht, Bert

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.73.2764

Cited by 120 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Experimental evidence for the existence of nonradiative fields close to an aperture are the ''forbidden light'' emission, 24,44,54 surface plasmon excitation, 79 as well as an increased fluorescence from single molecules close to an aperture. 80 …”

Section: ͑3͒mentioning

confidence: 99%

Scanning near-field optical microscopy with aperture probes: Fundamentals and applications

Hecht

Sick

Wild

et al. 2000

The Journal of Chemical Physics

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In this review we describe fundamentals of scanning near-field optical microscopy with aperture probes. After the discussion of instrumentation and probe fabrication, aspects of light propagation in metal-coated, tapered optical fibers are considered. This includes transmission properties and field distributions in the vicinity of subwavelength apertures. Furthermore, the near-field optical image formation mechanism is analyzed with special emphasis on potential sources of artifacts. To underline the prospects of the technique, selected applications including amplitude and phase contrast imaging, fluorescence imaging, and Raman spectroscopy, as well as near-field optical desorption, are presented. These examples demonstrate that scanning near-field optical microscopy is no longer an exotic method but has matured into a valuable tool.

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Section: ͑3͒mentioning

confidence: 99%

Scanning near-field optical microscopy with aperture probes: Fundamentals and applications

Hecht

Sick

Wild

et al. 2000

The Journal of Chemical Physics

Self Cite

702

440

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The past decades have witnessed the development of several successful attempts in this regard, such as scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) [1][2][3][4][5], single-molecule spectroscopy [6][7][8][9][10] and the combination of the two [11][12][13][14]. These efforts have however suffered from the mismatch between light and nanoscale matter, which leads to a small throughput between the input and output signals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Light scattering under nanofocusing: Towards coherent nanoscopies

Mohammadi

Agio

2012

Optics Communications

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We investigate light scattering under nanofocusing in the context of coherent spectroscopy. We discuss the different mechanisms that may enhance the signal in extinction and how these depend on nanofocusing as well as on the probed system. We find that nanofocusing may improve the detection sensitivity by orders of magnitude under realistic conditions, enabling scanning implementations of coherent spectroscopy at the nanoscale.

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“…The great body of work done is too large to review here, and the reader is referred to selected texts (21,40) and selected review articles (41-47) for more information. My talented group of postdocs and collaborators completed a wide array of experiments, including measurements of the lifetime-limited width, temperature-dependent dephasing, and optical saturation effects (48,49), photon antibunching correlations (50), vibrational spectroscopy (51-53), magnetic resonance of a single molecular spin (54), and near-field spectroscopy (55). Some experiments have particular relevance for superresolution microscopy and will be discussed next.…”

Section: Figure 9 Here -mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nobel Lecture: Single-molecule spectroscopy, imaging, and photocontrol: Foundations for super-resolution microscopy

Moerner

2015

Rev. Mod. Phys.

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The initial steps toward optical detection and spectroscopy of single molecules in condensed matter arose out of the study of inhomogeneously broadened optical absorption profiles of molecular impurities in solids at low temperatures. Spectral signatures relating to the fluctuations of the number of molecules in resonance led to the attainment of the single-molecule limit in 1989 using frequency-modulation laser spectroscopy. In the early 90's, many fascinating physical effects were observed for individual molecules, and the imaging of single molecules as well as observations of spectral diffusion, optical switching and the ability to select different single molecules in the same focal volume simply by tuning the pumping laser frequency provided important forerunners of the later superresolution microscopy with single molecules. In the room temperature regime, imaging of single copies of the green fluorescent protein also uncovered surprises, especially the blinking and photoinduced recovery of emitters, which stimulated further development of photoswitchable fluorescent protein labels. Because each single fluorophore acts a light source roughly 1 nm in size, microscopic observation and localization of individual fluorophores is a key ingredient to imaging beyond the optical diffraction limit. Combining this with active control of the number of emitting molecules in the pumped volume led to the super-resolution imaging of Eric Betzig and others, a new frontier for optical microscopy beyond the diffraction limit. The background leading up to these observations is described and current developments are summarized. The early days Introduction and early inspirationsI want to thank the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and the Nobel Foundation for selecting me for this prize recognizing the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy. I am truly honored to share the prize with my two esteemed colleagues, Stefan Hell and Eric Betzig. My primary contributions center on the first optical detection and spectroscopy of single molecules in the condensed phase(1), and on the observations of imaging, blinking and photocontrol not only for single molecules at low temperatures in solids, but also for useful variants of the green fluorescent protein at room temperature (2). This lecture describes the context of the events leading up to these advances as well as a portion of the subsequent developments both around the world and in my laboratory.In the mid-1980's, I derived much early inspiration from amazing advances that were occurring around the world where single nanoscale quantum systems were detected and explored for both scientific and technological reasons. Some of these were (i) the spectroscopy of single electrons or ions confined in vacuum electromagnetic traps (3-5), (ii) scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) (6) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) (7), and (iii) the study of ion currents in single membrane-embedded ion channels (8). But why not optical detection and ...

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Near-Field Optical Spectroscopy of Individual Molecules in Solids

Cited by 120 publications

References 16 publications

Scanning near-field optical microscopy with aperture probes: Fundamentals and applications

Scanning near-field optical microscopy with aperture probes: Fundamentals and applications

Light scattering under nanofocusing: Towards coherent nanoscopies

Nobel Lecture: Single-molecule spectroscopy, imaging, and photocontrol: Foundations for super-resolution microscopy

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