Search for traces: Aptamer-bound Au nanoparticles (Au NPs) were used to provide high-resolution dark-field microscopy images of latent fingerprints (LFPs) with level 2 and level 3 details. Furthermore, the cocaine-induced aggregation of Au NPs results in a true green-to-red color change of the scattered light, providing a quasi-quantative method to identify cocaine loadings in LFPs.

Plasmonic imaging under a dark-field microscope (DFM) holds great promise for single-particle analysis in bioimaging, nanophotonics, and nanocatalysis. Here, we designed a DNA-directed programmable assembly strategy to fabricate a halo-like Au nanostructure (nanohalo) that couples plasmonic large gold nanoparticles (L-AuNPs) with catalytically active small AuNPs (S-AuNPs) in a single nanoarchitecture. Catalytic reaction occurring on S-AuNPs changes its permittivity, which results in a significant variation of the plasmonic resonance of the nanohalo. Hence, we can indirectly monitor catalytic reactions on a single nanohalo under DFM, on the basis of which we have obtained quantitative information on both nanocatalysis and catalyst poisoning. Our study thus provides a cost-effective means to quantitatively study metal NP-based catalysis at single-particle level.

Effects of primary aberrations including spherical aberration, coma and astigmatism on the three fluorescence depletion patterns mainly used in stimulated emission of depletion (STED) microscopy are investigated by using vectorial integral. The three depletion patterns are created by inserting a vortex phase plate, a central half-wavelength plate or a semi-circular half-wavelength mask within Gaussian beam respectively. Attention is given to the modification of the shape, peak intensity, the central intensity of the dark hole and the hole size of these depletion patterns in the presence of primary aberrations.

Abstract:The structure of the inhibition patterns is important to the stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy. Usually, LaguerreGaussian (LG) beam and the central zero-intensity patterns created by inserting phase masks in Gaussian beams are used as the erase beam in STED microscopy. Aberration is generated when focusing beams through an interface between the media of the mismatched refractive indices. By use of the vectorial integral, the effects of such aberration on the shape of depletion patterns and the size of fluorescence emission spot in the STED microscopy are studied. Results are presented as a comparison between the aberration-free case and the aberrated cases.