Size-correlated spectroscopy and imaging of rare-earth-doped nanocrystals

Isolated europium-doped metal-oxide nanoparticles were probed by size-correlated high-numerical-aperture (far-field) imaging techniques. A modified Digital Instruments Bioscope atomic force microscope mounted upon a Nikon TE300 inverted microscope was used to interrogate (dry) particles ranging in size from 2 to 150 nm on the surface of a glass or quartz coverslip. These experiments revealed several interesting features of doped-nanoparticle luminescence such as Poissonian occupation statistics, size-dependent luminescence efficiency enhancement for particle sizes of <10 nm, and correlation of interesting transient behavior at particle sizes of <5 nm.