Non-blinking and photostable upconverted luminescence from single lanthanide-doped nanocrystals.

ABSTRACT: The development of probes for single-molecule imaging has dramatically facilitated the study of individual molecules in cells and other complex environments. Single-molecule probes ideally exhibit good brightness, uninterrupted emission, resistance to photobleaching, and minimal spectral overlap with cellular autofluorescence. However, most single-molecule probes are imperfect in several of these aspects, and none have been shown to possess all of these characteristics. Here we show that individual lanthanide-doped upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs)--specifically, hexagonal phase NaYF(4) (beta-NaYF(4)) nanocrystals with multiple Yb(3+) and Er(3+) dopants--emit bright anti-Stokes visible upconverted luminescence with exceptional photostability when excited by a 980-nm continuous wave laser.

SUBMITTER: Wu S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2698891 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature