Home - Applied nanoPhysics Group

Center for Bionanoscience Research (CIBION), National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET)
Physics Department, Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences, University of Buenos Aires (UBA)

Using optical methods, we explore the properties and technological applications of nanoparticles, single molecules, nanostructured materials, supramolecular assemblies, biological and hybrid nanosystems.

The Applied nanoPhysics Group was launched in October 2009 at the Physics Department, Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences, of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA)

In 2012 we moved our labs to the Center for Bionanoscience Research (CIBION) of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), while Prof. Stefani still holds his position at the Physics Department of the University of Buenos Aires.

CURRENT RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

Fluorescence nanoscopy.

Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy, also known as fluorescence nanoscopy, has revolutionized biological imaging because they provide deep sub-wavelenght spatial resolution while keeping the low-invasiveness of far-field optical interrogation. We apply and optimize well-established methods like STED and STORM, and develop new ones, such as MINFLUX, and open-source software for fluorescence nanoscopy. With them, we address questions of cellular and neuronal biology.

Optical printing colloidal nanoparticles.

Colloidal chemistry enables the fabrication of nanoparticles of different shapes, sizes and material compositions, that exhibit unique physical and chemical properties, inexistent in bulk materials. In order to make use of those properties in devices and circuits, it is necessary to develope methods to bring the colloidal nanoparticles from the liquid phase to specific locations of solid substrates. We address this challenge using optical forces.

Self-assembled Nanophotonic Devices.

Semiconductor-based devices are approaching intrinsic limits of speed and heat dissipation.
Optical devices are faster and practically loss-less, but their size miniaturization is limited by the wavelength of light. Nanophotonics and Plasmonics deals with the manipulation of light at the nanoscale. We investigate light-matter interaction between single-photon emitters and metallic nanoparticles organized in nanodevices by self-assembly.

LATESTS NEWS

Welcome Dr. Piotr Zwandkowski

nano_x7n4r02022-07-31T13:52:20+00:00April 1st, 2022|

Starting in March 2022, Dr. Piotr Zdankowski has joined our group for a postdoctoral stay with a Research Fellowship of the National Agency for Scientific Exchange of Poland. The Research Fellowship programme aims to implement the Projects together with eminent foreign scientists and scientific teams as well as establish long-term [...]

Prof. Dr. Pedro Aramendía retires and CIBION say thanks

nano_x7n4r02022-04-13T01:21:23+00:00March 31st, 2022|

Founding Director of CIBION Prof. Dr. Pedro Aramendía has retired after 10 years leading the activities of the institute. Pedro has been a great researcher, teacher, and mentor of many young researchers. Thank you Pedro [...]

Multiphoton single-molecule localization with sequential structured illumination

nano_x7n4r02022-04-12T18:29:52+00:00March 26th, 2022|

MINFLUX represented a breakthrough showing that single fluorescent molecules could be localized with 1-2 nm precision with moderate photon counts.Such level of localization efficiency enables single-molecule tracking and super-resolution imaging with true molecular resolution. The key concept was to estimate the molecular position from a sequence of exposures to spatially [...]

Prof. Stefani appointed member of the Editorial Advisory Board of ACS Photonics

nano_x7n4r02022-11-08T20:12:45+00:00March 5th, 2022|

Prof. Fernando Stefani has been appointed to the Editorial Advisory Board of ACSPhotonics, becoming the only member from Latin America. ACS Photonics is a reference journal in the field of photonics, and has recently updated the list of topics covered under the new Editor in Chief Prof. Romain Quidant: Nanophotonics, [...]

Python package for fully vectorial calculations of focused fields

nano_x7n4r02022-03-03T20:41:00+00:00March 3rd, 2022|

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 [...]

Review (and new data) on optical printing of colloidal nanoparticles

nano_x7n4r02022-02-22T14:30:09+00:00January 19th, 2022|

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 [...]

A common framework for single-molecule localization with sequential structured illumination (MINFLUX, orbital tracking, MINSTED, etc.)

nano_x7n4r02022-02-22T14:19:43+00:00January 2nd, 2022|

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 [...]

Review on fluorescence nanoscopy with sub-10 nm resolution

nano_x7n4r02022-02-22T14:07:22+00:00December 2nd, 2021|

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 [...]