Detection of Single Molecules Illuminated by a Light-Emitting Diode

Sensors

Ilja Gerhardt¹  Lijian Mai¹  Ant໚ Lamas-Linares¹ 

[1] CQT, Centre for Quantum Technologies, 3 Science Drive 2, 117543, Singapore; E-Mails:

关键词: single molecules;    fluorescence microscopy;    light-emitting diode;    LED;    signal to noise ratio;    single photon detection;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s110100905

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Optical detection and spectroscopy of single molecules has become an indispensable tool in biological imaging and sensing. Its success is based on fluorescence of organic dye molecules under carefully engineered laser illumination. In this paper we demonstrate optical detection of single molecules on a wide-field microscope with an illumination based on a commercially available, green light-emitting diode. The results are directly compared with laser illumination in the same experimental configuration. The setup and the limiting factors, such as light transfer to the sample, spectral filtering and the resulting signal-to-noise ratio are discussed. A theoretical and an experimental approach to estimate these parameters are presented. The results can be adapted to other single emitter and illumination schemes.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2011 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.