English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Ultrasensitive nanomechanical instruments, including the atomic force microscope (AFM) 1-4 and optical and magnetic tweezers 5-8 , have helped shed new light on the complex mechanical environments of biological processes. However, it is difficult to scale down the size of these instruments due to their feedback mechanisms 9 , which, if overcome, would enable high-density nanomechanical probing inside materials. A variety of molecular force probes including mechanophores 10 , quantum dots 11 , fluorescent pairs 12,13 and molecular rotors 14-16 have been designed to measure intracellular stresses; however, fluorescence-based techniques can have short operating times due to photo-instability and it is still challenging to quantify the forces with high spatial and mechanical resolution. Here, we develop a compact nanofibre optic force transducer (NOFT) that utilizes strong near-field plasmon-dielectric interactions to measure local forces with a sensitivity of &lt;200 fN. The NOFT system is tested by monitoring bacterial motion and heart-cell beating as well as detecting infrasound power in solution.

Nanofibre optic force transducers with sub-piconewton resolution via near-field plasmon–dielectric interactions