TOWARDS THE FLUORESCENCE RESONANCE ENERGY TRANSFER (FRET) SCANNING NEAR-FIELD OPTICAL MICROSCOPY: INVESTIGATION OF NANOLOCAL FRET PROCESSES AND FRET PROBE MICROSCOPE
Sekatskii S.K., Shubeita G.T., Chergui M., Dietler G., Mironov B.N., Lapshin D.A., Letokhov V.S.

Received: November 30, 1999

PACS: 33.50.-j; 07.60Pb

The fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) process is investigated between donor dye molecules deposited on the sample surface and acceptor dye molecules deposited on the tips of scanning near-field and atomic force microscopes. The FRET process was observed only when the tip acquired contact with the sample and took place in regions of sizes of only a few tens of nanometers with only a few thousands (or even hundreds) of molecules involved. The dependence of the FRET intensity on the tip-sample acting force is recorded and interpreted. In relation with the obtained results, the construction of a previously proposed one - atom FRET SNOM is described.