Novel photoluminescence-enhancing substrates for image formation of biological objects

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the use of synthetic opal-based photonic crystal substrates to enhance photoluminescence imaging of biological objects, enabling improved visualization and labeling techniques.

Contribution

It introduces novel photoluminescence-enhancing substrates based on synthetic opals for biological imaging applications.

Findings

Photoluminescence distributions of DNA clusters were studied on opal and gold substrates.

Synthetic opals can serve as labels and image amplifiers in biological microscopy.

Visualization of blood cells was achieved using nanostructured opal substrates.

Abstract

The use of photonic crystals, which were fabricated on the basis of synthetic opals, as substrates for the luminescence microscopy of biological objects has been shown. The spatial distributions of the photoluminescence by DNA clusters excited by 365-nm ultraviolet irradiation on opal surfaces and rough gold substrates have been studied. With the use of blood cells as an example, a possibility for the visualization of biological objects in the case where the nanostructure elements of synthetic opals are applied as labels and image amplifiers has been demonstrated.