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Three-dimensional spatiotemporal tracking of nano-objects diffusing in water-filled optofluidic microstructured fiber
Three-dimensional (3D) tracking of nano-objects represents a novel pathway for understanding dynamic nanoscale processes within bioanalytics and life science. Here we demonstrate 3D tracking of diffusing 100 nm gold nanosphere within a water-filled optofluidic fiber via elastic light scattering-based position retrieval. Specifically, the correlation between intensity and position inside a region of a fiber-integrated microchannel has been used to decode the axial position from the scattered intensity, while image processing-based tracking was used in the image plane. The 3D trajectory of a diffusing gold nanosphere has been experimentally determined, while the determined diameter analysis matches expectations. Beside key advantages such as homogenous light-line illumination, low-background scattering, long observation time, large number of frames, high temporal and spatial resolution and compatibility with standard microscope, the particular properties of operating with water defines a new bioanalytical platform that is highly relevant for medical and life science applications. © 2020 Shiqi Jiang et al., published by De Gruyter. 2020.
Fast, Label-Free Tracking of Single Viruses and Weakly Scattering Nanoparticles in a Nanofluidic Optical Fiber
High-speed tracking of single particles is a gateway to understanding physical, chemical, and biological processes at the nanoscale. It is also a major experimental challenge, particularly for small, nanometer-scale particles. Although methods such as confocal or fluorescence microscopy offer both high spatial resolution and high signal-to-background ratios, the fluorescence emission lifetime limits the measurement speed, while photobleaching and thermal diffusion limit the duration of measurements. Here we present a tracking method based on elastic light scattering that enables long-duration measurements of nanoparticle dynamics at rates of thousands of frames per second. We contain the particles within a single-mode silica fiber having a subwavelength, nanofluidic channel and illuminate them using the fiber's strongly confined optical mode. The diffusing particles in this cylindrical geometry are continuously illuminated inside the collection focal plane. We show that the method can track unlabeled dielectric particles as small as 20 nm as well as individual cowpea chlorotic mottle virus (CCMV) virions-26 nm in size and 4.6 megadaltons in mass-at rates of over 3 kHz for durations of tens of seconds. Our setup is easily incorporated into common optical microscopes and extends their detection range to nanometer-scale particles and macromolecules. The ease-of-use and performance of this technique support its potential for widespread applications in medical diagnostics and micro total analysis systems.