Abstract
We report the first room temperature observation of an emission pattern from a single fluorescent molecule signifying that the emission dipole is aligned along the optic axis of a microscopic imaging system. This technique takes advantage of the , , and -polarized evanescent fields generated in total internal reflection and the usually nettlesome aberrations commonly encountered when imaging biological samples with high numerical aperture oil-immersion objectives. For both -oriented and transverse-oriented individual molecules of the carbocyanine dye embedded in polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA), calculated images accurately model the main features of observed emission patterns.
- Received 14 May 1998
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.5322
©1998 American Physical Society