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Three‐dimensional automated nanoparticle tracking using Mie scattering in an optical microscope
Author(s) -
GINESTE J.M.,
MACKO P.,
PATTERSON E.A.,
WHELAN M.P.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of microscopy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.569
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2818
pISSN - 0022-2720
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2818.2011.03491.x
Subject(s) - microscope , optics , optical microscope , optical path , light scattering , materials science , condenser (optics) , microscopy , diffraction , nanoparticle , scattering , aperture (computer memory) , nanotechnology , physics , acoustics , scanning electron microscope , light source
Summary The forward scattering of light in a conventional inverted optical microscope by nanoparticles ranging in diameter from 10 to 50 nm has been used to automatically and quantitatively identify and track their location in three‐dimensions with a temporal resolution of 200 ms. The standard deviation of the location of nominally stationary 50‐nm‐diameter nanoparticles was found to be about 50 nm along the light path and about 5 nm in the plane perpendicular to the light path. The method is based on oscillating the microscope objective along the light path using a piezo actuator and acquiring images with the condenser aperture closed to a minimum to enhance the effects of diffraction. Data processing in the time and spatial domains allowed the location of particles to be obtained automatically so that the technique has potential applications both in the processing of nanoparticles and in their use in a variety of fields including nanobiotechnology, pharmaceuticals and food processing where a simple optical microscope maybe preferred for a variety of reasons.