Colloidal quantum dots as saturable fluorophores

Osip Schwartz; Ron Tenne; Jonathan M. Levitt; Zvicka Deutsch; Stella Itzhakov; Dan Oron

doi:10.1021/nn302551v

Colloidal quantum dots as saturable fluorophores

Osip Schwartz, Ron Tenne, Jonathan M. Levitt, Zvicka Deutsch, Stella Itzhakov, Dan Oron

Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

18 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Although colloidal quantum dots (QDs) exhibit excellent photostability under mild excitation, intense illumination makes their emission increasingly intermittent, eventually leading to photobleaching. We study fluorescence of two commonly used types of QDs under pulsed excitation with varying power and repetition rate. The photostability of QDs is found to improve dramatically at low repetition rates, allowing for prolonged optical saturation of QDs without apparent photodamage. This observation suggests that QD blinking is facilitated by absorption of light in a transient state with a microsecond decay time. Enhanced photostability of generic quantum dots under intense illumination opens up new prospects for fluorescence microscopy and spectroscopy.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	8778-8782
Number of pages	5
Journal	ACS nano
Volume	6
Issue number	10
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/nn302551v
Publication status	Published - Oct 23 2012

Keywords

fluorophore photostability
quantum dot blinking
saturable fluorescence

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Materials Science(all)
Engineering(all)
Physics and Astronomy(all)

Access to Document

10.1021/nn302551v

Fingerprint Dive into the research topics of 'Colloidal quantum dots as saturable fluorophores'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this

@article{ebb9ccfd8d854bc8addcb87c64a08c24,

title = "Colloidal quantum dots as saturable fluorophores",

abstract = "Although colloidal quantum dots (QDs) exhibit excellent photostability under mild excitation, intense illumination makes their emission increasingly intermittent, eventually leading to photobleaching. We study fluorescence of two commonly used types of QDs under pulsed excitation with varying power and repetition rate. The photostability of QDs is found to improve dramatically at low repetition rates, allowing for prolonged optical saturation of QDs without apparent photodamage. This observation suggests that QD blinking is facilitated by absorption of light in a transient state with a microsecond decay time. Enhanced photostability of generic quantum dots under intense illumination opens up new prospects for fluorescence microscopy and spectroscopy.",

keywords = "fluorophore photostability, quantum dot blinking, saturable fluorescence",

author = "Osip Schwartz and Ron Tenne and Levitt, {Jonathan M.} and Zvicka Deutsch and Stella Itzhakov and Dan Oron",

year = "2012",

month = oct,

day = "23",

doi = "10.1021/nn302551v",

language = "English",

volume = "6",

pages = "8778--8782",

journal = "ACS Nano",

issn = "1936-0851",

publisher = "American Chemical Society",

number = "10",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Colloidal quantum dots as saturable fluorophores

AU - Schwartz, Osip

AU - Tenne, Ron

AU - Levitt, Jonathan M.

AU - Deutsch, Zvicka

AU - Itzhakov, Stella

AU - Oron, Dan

PY - 2012/10/23

Y1 - 2012/10/23

N2 - Although colloidal quantum dots (QDs) exhibit excellent photostability under mild excitation, intense illumination makes their emission increasingly intermittent, eventually leading to photobleaching. We study fluorescence of two commonly used types of QDs under pulsed excitation with varying power and repetition rate. The photostability of QDs is found to improve dramatically at low repetition rates, allowing for prolonged optical saturation of QDs without apparent photodamage. This observation suggests that QD blinking is facilitated by absorption of light in a transient state with a microsecond decay time. Enhanced photostability of generic quantum dots under intense illumination opens up new prospects for fluorescence microscopy and spectroscopy.

AB - Although colloidal quantum dots (QDs) exhibit excellent photostability under mild excitation, intense illumination makes their emission increasingly intermittent, eventually leading to photobleaching. We study fluorescence of two commonly used types of QDs under pulsed excitation with varying power and repetition rate. The photostability of QDs is found to improve dramatically at low repetition rates, allowing for prolonged optical saturation of QDs without apparent photodamage. This observation suggests that QD blinking is facilitated by absorption of light in a transient state with a microsecond decay time. Enhanced photostability of generic quantum dots under intense illumination opens up new prospects for fluorescence microscopy and spectroscopy.

KW - fluorophore photostability

KW - quantum dot blinking

KW - saturable fluorescence

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84867824446&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84867824446&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1021/nn302551v

DO - 10.1021/nn302551v

M3 - Article

C2 - 22992215

AN - SCOPUS:84867824446

VL - 6

SP - 8778

EP - 8782

JO - ACS Nano

JF - ACS Nano

SN - 1936-0851

IS - 10

ER -

Colloidal quantum dots as saturable fluorophores

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Cite this