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Updated: Aug 24, 2025
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Performing Spectroscopy on Plasmonic Nanoparticles with Transmission-Based Nomarski-Type Differential Interference Contrast Microscopy
Published on: June 5, 2019
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Hyperspectral dark field optical microscopy for orientational imaging of a single plasmonic nanocube using a
Nishir Mehta1, Amirreza Mahigir2,3, Georgios Veronis2,3
1Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Louisiana State University Baton Rouge Louisiana 70803 USA mgartia@lsu.edu +1-225-578-5900.
Nanoscale Advances
|October 26, 2022
Summary
This study demonstrates orientational imaging of silver nanocubes, overcoming limitations of fluorescent molecules. This nanoparticle-based method offers a new high-throughput strategy for sensing rotational motion.
Area of Science:
- Nanotechnology
- Biophysics
- Optical Imaging
Background:
- Extracting molecular rotational dynamics is crucial for understanding cellular processes like protein diffusion and cytoskeleton formation.
- Fluorescence molecules have isotropic emission, hindering rotational information retrieval during imaging.
- Metal nanoparticles offer polarization-dependent responses and robustness, making them suitable for orientation sensing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel method for orientational imaging of symmetric nanoparticles.
- To overcome the limitations of conventional fluorescent probes for rotational motion sensing.
- To enable high-throughput orientation imaging of nanoparticles.
Main Methods:
- Utilized 100 nm isolated silver nanocubes as orientation sensing probes.
- Coupled a hyperspectral detector with a focused ion beam (FIB)-fabricated correlating substrate.
- Analyzed spectral shifts in scattering spectra of over 100 nanocubes.
- Validated results using finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated successful orientational imaging of symmetric silver nanocube structures.
- Observed spectral shifts correlating with nanocube orientation relative to incident light.
- Confirmed the feasibility of using nanocubes for orientation sensing.
Conclusions:
- Silver nanocubes can be effectively used for orientational imaging, complementing previous studies with nanorods.
- This approach provides a novel, high-throughput strategy for nanoparticle orientation imaging.
- The method offers advantages over fluorescent probes, including bio-compatibility and resistance to photo-blinking/bleaching.
