Published in Chemistry World, 16 June 2011
Researchers in the US and Germany have used a plasmon ruler to show in principle how to measure the three dimensional position of objects at the nano-scale. The ruler, which consists of a stack of gold nano-rods, could one day be used to improve understanding of soft matter processes, such as protein folding.
Plasmon rulers consist of metal nanoparticles that are attached to biomolecules. Like tiny antennae, the nanoparticles create plasmon resonances – waves of electrons – that absorb or scatter light at specific visible or infrared frequencies. Because the exact frequency depends on the proximity of other particles, the nanoparticles offer a way to measure inter-particle distance. […]
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