Label-free single molecule imaging with numerical aperture-shaped interferometric scattering microscopy
Our ability to optically interrogate nanoscopic objects is controlled by the difference between their extinction cross sections and the diffraction-limited area to which light can be confined in the far-field. Here, we show that a partially transmissive spatial mask placed near the back focal plane...
| Glavni autori: | , , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Izdano: |
American Chemical Society
2017
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| Sažetak: | Our ability to optically interrogate nanoscopic objects is controlled by the difference between their extinction cross sections and the diffraction-limited area to which light can be confined in the far-field. Here, we show that a partially transmissive spatial mask placed near the back focal plane of a high numerical aperture microscope objective enhances the extinction contrast of a scatterer near an interface by approximately T^-1/2, where T is the transmissivity of the mask. Numerical aperture-based differentiation of background from scattered light represents a general approach to increasing extinction contrast and enables routine label-free imaging down to the single molecule level. |
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