Design and Fabrication of Fiber-Optic Nanoprobes for Optical Sensing
<p>Abstract</p> <p>This paper describes the design and fabrication of fiber-optic nanoprobes developed for optical detection in single living cells. It is critical to fabricate probes with well-controlled nanoapertures for optimized spatial resolution and optical transmission. The...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SpringerOpen
2011-01-01
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| Series: | Nanoscale Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.nanoscalereslett.com/content/6/1/18 |
| _version_ | 1797716542827266048 |
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| author | Zhang Yan Dhawan Anuj Vo-Dinh Tuan |
| author_facet | Zhang Yan Dhawan Anuj Vo-Dinh Tuan |
| author_sort | Zhang Yan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p>Abstract</p> <p>This paper describes the design and fabrication of fiber-optic nanoprobes developed for optical detection in single living cells. It is critical to fabricate probes with well-controlled nanoapertures for optimized spatial resolution and optical transmission. The detection sensitivity of fiber-optic nanoprobe depends mainly on the extremely small excitation volume that is determined by the aperture sizes and penetration depths. We investigate the angle dependence of the aperture in shadow evaporation of the metal coating onto the tip wall. It was found that nanoaperture diameters of approximately 50 nm can be achieved using a 25° tilt angle. On the other hand, the aperture size is sensitive to the subtle change of the metal evaporation angle and could be blocked by irregular metal grains. Through focused ion beam (FIB) milling, optical nanoprobes with well-defined aperture size as small as 200 nm can be obtained. Finally, we illustrate the use of the nanoprobes by detecting a fluorescent species, benzo[a]pyrene tetrol (BPT), in single living cells. A quantitative estimation of the numbers of BPT molecules detected using fiber-optic nanoprobes for BPT solutions shows that the limit of detection was approximately 100 molecules.</p> |
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b0f3da14877648c89eab48024cbd58f4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1931-7573 1556-276X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T08:23:00Z |
| publishDate | 2011-01-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
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| series | Nanoscale Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-b0f3da14877648c89eab48024cbd58f42023-09-02T18:19:57ZengSpringerOpenNanoscale Research Letters1931-75731556-276X2011-01-016118Design and Fabrication of Fiber-Optic Nanoprobes for Optical SensingZhang YanDhawan AnujVo-Dinh Tuan<p>Abstract</p> <p>This paper describes the design and fabrication of fiber-optic nanoprobes developed for optical detection in single living cells. It is critical to fabricate probes with well-controlled nanoapertures for optimized spatial resolution and optical transmission. The detection sensitivity of fiber-optic nanoprobe depends mainly on the extremely small excitation volume that is determined by the aperture sizes and penetration depths. We investigate the angle dependence of the aperture in shadow evaporation of the metal coating onto the tip wall. It was found that nanoaperture diameters of approximately 50 nm can be achieved using a 25° tilt angle. On the other hand, the aperture size is sensitive to the subtle change of the metal evaporation angle and could be blocked by irregular metal grains. Through focused ion beam (FIB) milling, optical nanoprobes with well-defined aperture size as small as 200 nm can be obtained. Finally, we illustrate the use of the nanoprobes by detecting a fluorescent species, benzo[a]pyrene tetrol (BPT), in single living cells. A quantitative estimation of the numbers of BPT molecules detected using fiber-optic nanoprobes for BPT solutions shows that the limit of detection was approximately 100 molecules.</p>http://www.nanoscalereslett.com/content/6/1/18Fiber-optic nanoprobesFocused ion beamShadow evaporationOptical sensing |
| spellingShingle | Zhang Yan Dhawan Anuj Vo-Dinh Tuan Design and Fabrication of Fiber-Optic Nanoprobes for Optical Sensing Nanoscale Research Letters Fiber-optic nanoprobes Focused ion beam Shadow evaporation Optical sensing |
| title | Design and Fabrication of Fiber-Optic Nanoprobes for Optical Sensing |
| title_full | Design and Fabrication of Fiber-Optic Nanoprobes for Optical Sensing |
| title_fullStr | Design and Fabrication of Fiber-Optic Nanoprobes for Optical Sensing |
| title_full_unstemmed | Design and Fabrication of Fiber-Optic Nanoprobes for Optical Sensing |
| title_short | Design and Fabrication of Fiber-Optic Nanoprobes for Optical Sensing |
| title_sort | design and fabrication of fiber optic nanoprobes for optical sensing |
| topic | Fiber-optic nanoprobes Focused ion beam Shadow evaporation Optical sensing |
| url | http://www.nanoscalereslett.com/content/6/1/18 |
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