Description

Super-resolution imaging techniques enable to image objects with a resolution at the nanometer length scale (~10 nm), well below the classical limit imposed by the diffraction of light (typically ~200 nm). Among these techniques, single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) approaches are based on the capacity of detecting single-molecules and the ability of switching on and off fluorescent emitters.

At Institut Langevin, ESPCI Paris PSL, we have further developed such concept and conceived a novel microscopy system capable of simultaneously detecting single fluorescent molecules as well as their fluorescence lifetime, and thus obtaining super-resolved fluorescence lifetime images (smFLIM).
In the frame of this project we will explore a new application of smFLIM, that is the study of temperature increase in nanostructured samples based on single-molecule fluorescence modification.

Skills required

We are accepting applications from students with different background and motivation, ranging from optics and nanophotonics to physical-chemistry and biophysics, and from fundamental research to applied sciences interests.

Bibliography

1. G. Patterson, et al., Ann. Rev. Phys. Chem. 61, 345(2010).
2. D. Bouchet, et al., Optica 6, 135 (2019)
3. G. Blanquer, et al., ACS Photonics 7, 393-400 (2020).
4. M. Córdova-Castro et al. arxiv:2506.15095, to be published (2025).
5. M. Córdova-Castro et al., Light: Science & Applications, 13, 7 (2024).
6. A. F. Koenderink, et al., Nanophotonics, 11, 169 (2022)
7. G. Baffou, et al. Nat. Mater. 19, 946 (2020).
8. Q. Jiang at al., ACS Photonics 6, 1763 (2019).

Keywords

Nano-optics, Plasmonics, single-molecule localization microscopy, fluorescence lifetime