Fluorescence microscopy of single molecules

✍ Scribed by Frank Güttler; Thomas Irngartinger; Taras Plakhotnik; Alois Renn; Urs P. Wild

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 500 KB
• Volume: 217
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0009-2614
• DOI: 10.1016/0009-2614(94)87003-9

✦ Synopsis

Using fluorescence excitation spectroscopy single pentacene molecules were studied under a microscope at a temperature of 1.8 K. The microscope has a resolution of 3 pm and allows the location of a single emitting molecule with an accuracy of 0.5 pm, in a total viewing field of 235 pmx 175 pm. 133 images have been recorded by increasing the excitation frequency of the light at 592.344 nm in steps of 2 MHz. Each single molecule has a Lorentzian absorption profile with a width of about 14 MHz and can be observed in 10 consecutive images. The "position" of the single molecule is characterized by the x-and y-coordinates in the spatial domain and by its absorption frequency in the spectral domain.