Dark-field digital holographic microscopy for 3D-tracking of gold nanoparticles

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel dark-field digital holographic microscopy technique that enables precise 3D tracking of 100nm gold nanoparticles in water, facilitating detailed analysis of their motion in complex environments.

Contribution

The study combines off-axis Digital Holography with Dark Field Microscopy to localize multiple nanoparticles in 3D from a single hologram, with accuracy independent of particle position.

Findings

Single hologram suffices for multi-particle localization

Achieved localization accuracy independent of particle position

Reconstructed 3D trajectories and diffusion coefficients

Abstract

We present a new technique that combines off-axis Digital Holography and Dark Field Microscopy to track 100nm gold particles diffusing in water. We show that a single hologram is sufficient to localize several particles in a thick sample with a localization accuracy independent of the particle position. From our measurements we reconstruct the trajectories of the particles and derive their 3D diffusion coefficient. Our results pave the way for quantitative studies of the motion of single nanoparticle in complex media.