Enhancement and Quenching of Single-Molecule Fluorescence

Pascal Anger, Palash Bharadwaj, and Lukas Novotny
Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 113002 – Published 21 March 2006

Abstract

We present an experimental and theoretical study of the fluorescence rate of a single molecule as a function of its distance to a laser-irradiated gold nanoparticle. The local field enhancement leads to an increased excitation rate whereas nonradiative energy transfer to the particle leads to a decrease of the quantum yield (quenching). Because of these competing effects, previous experiments showed either fluorescence enhancement or fluorescence quenching. By varying the distance between molecule and particle we show the first experimental measurement demonstrating the continuous transition from fluorescence enhancement to fluorescence quenching. This transition cannot be explained by treating the particle as a polarizable sphere in the dipole approximation.

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  • Received 23 November 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.113002

©2006 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Pascal Anger, Palash Bharadwaj, and Lukas Novotny*

  • The Institute of Optics and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, USA†

  • *Corresponding author. Electronic address: novotny@optics.rochester.edu
  • Electronic address: http://www.nano-optics.org

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Issue

Vol. 96, Iss. 11 — 24 March 2006

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