Sathish RS, Kostov Y, Rao G. Spectral resolution of molecular ensembles under ambient conditions using surface plasmon coupled fluorescence emission.
APPLIED OPTICS 2009;
48:5348-5353. [PMID:
19798374 DOI:
10.1364/ao.48.005348]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
We report the ability to spectrally resolve excited-state ensembles of pyranine (Py) utilizing nanometer-thick metal films as a low-cost analytical tool. Surface plasmon coupling allows to mitigate the effect of spectral broadening that is responsible for blurring the emission spectrum at room temperature, a situation common in conventional fluorescence spectroscopy. The approach is especially useful in the case when several excited-state species are present. Fluorescence emission from closely located protonated, deprotonated, and excimer species of Py couple into surface plasmons and are easily separated and observed with 11-14 fold intensity enhancements. Furthermore, the ultranarrowband photon-sorting of emission from microenvironments in a multispecies system is performed in this study using instruments that are readily available in most laboratories without employing any deconvolution procedure and/or additional dispersive optics.
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