The authors show that by infusing gold ion solution, focused laser light-induced photoreduction allows in-situ fabrication of gold nanoparticles at precise locations. The resulting particles are pure gold nanocrystals, distributed throughout the laser focus at sizes ranging from 2 to 20 nm, and remain in place even after removing the gold solution.

They demonstrate the spatial control by scanning a laser beam to write characters in gold inside a cell. Plasmonically enhanced molecular signals are then detected from nanoparticles, allowing their use as nano-chemical probes at targeted locations inside the cell, with intracellular molecular feedback. Such light-based control of the intracellular particle generation reaction also offers avenues for in-situ plasmonic device creation in organic targets, and may eventually link optical and electron microscopy.

Nicholas SMITH Nat Commun_20141009.pdf


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Nicholas Isaac Smith
Biophotonics
Immunology Frontier Research Center (WPI-IFReC), Osaka University