Determining the position of single fluorescent molecules is the key concept for all coordinate-stochastic fluorescence nanoscopy methods, such as PALM or STORM, also known as single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM). Applying these concepts to study nanophotonic devices and interactions between molecules and nanoparticles seems straightforward at first, but it is not!
The electromagnetic coupling between the excited fluorescent molecules and diverse nanophotonic components may lead to photon emission with a phase centered displaced from the molecule, which in turn leads to a mislocalization of the molecules in the far field: a kind of single-molecule Mirage effect!
In our recent paper in Nature Communications, we studied this Mirage effect using DNA-PAINT on DNA-origami holding gold nanoparticles and compared it to electromagnetic field simulations. This works is part of our standing and always fun collaboration with Prof. Philip Tinnefeld and Dr. Guillermo Acuna.
Nature Communications 8 (2017) 13966
“Shifting molecular localization by plasmonic coupling in a single-molecule mirage”
Mario Raab, Carolin Vietz, Fernando D. Stefani, Guillermo P. Acuna and Philip Tinnefeld
