53,117 research outputs found
Comparison of the photoluminescence properties of semiconductor quantum dots and non-blinking diamond nanoparticles. Observation of the diffusion of diamond nanoparticles in living cells
Long-term observations of photoluminescence at the single-molecule level were
until recently very diffcult, due to the photobleaching of organic ?uorophore
molecules. Although inorganic semiconductor nanocrystals can overcome this
diffculty showing very low photobleaching yield, they suffer from
photoblinking. A new marker has been recently introduced, relying on diamond
nanoparticles containing photoluminescent color centers. In this work we
compare the photoluminescence of single quantum dots (QDs) to the one of
nanodiamonds containing a single-color center. Contrary to other markers,
photoluminescent nanodiamonds present a perfect photostability and no
photoblinking. At saturation of their excitation, nanodiamonds
photoluminescence intensity is only three times smaller than the one of QDs.
Moreover, the bright and stable photoluminescence of nanodiamonds allows wide
field observations of single nanoparticles motion. We demonstrate the
possibility of recording the tra jectory of such single particle in culture
cells
- …