Focused optical fields are key to a multitude of applications involving light-matter interactions, such as optical microscopy, single-molecule spectroscopy, optical tweezers, lithography, or quantum coherent control. A detailed vectorial characterization of the focused optical fields that includes a description beyond the paraxial approximation is key to optimize technological performance as well as for the design [...]
While colloidal chemistry provides ways to obtain a great variety of nanoparticles with different shapes, sizes, material compositions, and surface functions, their controlled deposition and combination on arbitrary positions of substrates remain a considerable challenge. Over the last ten years, optical printing arose as a versatile method to achieve this purpose for different kinds of [...]
Localization of single fluorescent molecules is key for physicochemical and biophysical measurements, such as single-molecule tracking and super-resolution imaging by single-molecule localization microscopy. Over the last two decades, several methods have been developed in which the position of a single emitter is interrogated with a sequence of spatially modulated patterns of light. Among them, the [...]
Fluorescence nanoscopy, also known as super-resolution microscopy, represented a breakthrough for the life sciences as it delivers 20–30 nm resolution using far-field fluorescence microscopes. This resolution limit is not fundamental but imposed by the limited photostability of fluorophores under ambient conditions. This has motivated the development of a second generation of fluorescence nanoscopy methods that [...]
Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy and Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) form a well-established family of techniques that has provided unique tools to study the dynamic architecture and functionality of biological systems, as well as to investigate nanomaterials. In the last years, the integration of super-resolution methods with FRET measurements has generated advances in two fronts. On [...]
Energy transfer in conjugated polymers is a critical process that affects the performance of these materials in diverse applications such as biological–chemical–physical sensing, imaging, photovoltaics, and phototherapy. In this experimental and theoretical work led by Prof. Rodrigo Palacios (University of Río Cuarto, Córdoba, Argentina), we performed an in-depth study of energy transfer in nanoparticles of [...]
Dr. Luciano (Lucho) Masullo and Dr. Alan Szalai leave the group after several years of very productive work. Goodbye beer - 24.09.2021 Lucho joined our group in 2014 as an undergraduate student, and stayed with us for almost 7 years! During that time, he worked on STORM, developed pulsed-interleaved MINLFUX and RASTMIN. Next, he [...]
Today, Prof. Dr. Philip Tinnefeld, one of our closest collaborators, gave a great talk in the colloquium of CIBION, showing some of the wonderful applications of DNA-origami his group develops, ranging from nano-rulers for fluorescence nanoscopy, self-assembled optical antennas and single-molecule biosensing assays. Thank you Philip for sharing your most recent advances and for the [...]
Today, Luciano Masullo defended his thesis "Photon-efficient fluorescence nanoscopy by scanning light intensity minima" and obtained the highest grade from the jury (Prof. Dr. Oscar Martínez, Prof. Dr. Valeria Levi, and Prof. Dr. Jorge Torga). Luciano joined our group in 2014, for his graduation thesis. At that time he worked closely with Dr. Fede Barabas, [...]
Today, Florencia Edorna obtained her degree in Physics from the University of Buenos Aires with the highest grade. Florencia came to our group wishing to work on 3D STED and MINFLUX nanoscopy, incorporating adaptive optics schemes to bring those methods to their maximum performance by correcting aberrations in the optical system and the samples. Unfortunately, [...]