Forum 04/08/2004

“Optical microscope observation of individual subwavelength size metal particles and their biological application”

David Schultz – Department of Physics, UCSD

Nanoparticles of gold and silver are very effective at scattering light in the visible portion of the spectrum.  Depending on their size, shape and the type of material, the nanoparticles can preferentially scatter light of a chosen color (red, green or blue).  Individual plasmon resonant particles are readily observed using an optical microscope configured for dark-field illumination.  The fabrication, and use of these nanoparticles as optically detectable labels, in several different biological applications will be described.