Single-Particle Orbit Tracking - Setup, Characterisation and Application

In this thesis, the development and experimental realisation of an optical setup which records the 2-dimensional trajectories of single fluorescently labeled polystyrene beads, either 20nm or 50nm in diameter, with a high spatial and temporal resolution is introduced. Combining single molecule fluorescence techniques with a new method called single-particle orbit tracking the spatial position of the beads could be determined with an accuracy of less than 10nm at a time resolution of 4 ms. The idea is to manipulate the excitation light spatially and temporally to locate a particle. In order to do so, special optics which deflect a laser beam and guide it on a circular path were used. Subsequently, this rotating beam is projected by a microscope into the sample with the diffusing particles. Due to the spatially and periodically modulated excitation light, the emission signal of the bead is modulated with the frequency of the rotation of the laser focus. The amplitude of the modulated emission signal depends on the position of the particle within the excitation orbit. An ingeniously developed algorithm calculates the position of the particle with respect to the centre of the orbit by demodulating the emission signal and restores the particle back to the orbit centre. Applying this method successively, the trajectory of the diffusing bead can be reconstructed. Besides the experimental realisation, the characterisation of the setup in terms of the spatial and temporal accuracy as well as the experimental shortcomings that influences the measured trajectories and hence, the interpretation of the data, were also the main topics of this work. For this purpose a reference sample of 20nm sized beads in glycerol was used. The accuracies were studied mainly by computer simulations and the artifacts by experiments. The technical details of the setup and the characterisation results were published (publication P1). The recorded trajectories were analysed with various methods, among which the commonly used mean squared displacement (MSD) yields the results with highest information. The diffusion coefficient as well as the diffusion behaviour could be quantified. With this method the obtainable accuracy in measuring the diffusion coefficient by the acquisition of single-particle trajectories was studied as a function of the length of the trajectories and as a function of the number of fitting points that were used for a linear fit to the experimentally determined MSD-curves. As expected, the relative error of the determined diffusion coefficient gets better for longer trajectories. Further, an optimal number of fitting points for the linear approximation to the MSD-curves was found, which yields the most exact values for the diffusion coefficients and which is independent of the trajectory length. For the first time, experimental results on that issue were compared with theoretical predictions, where a good agreement was found. These findings were published (publication P2). By the use of the Stokes-Einstein relation the diffusion coefficients could further be converted to particle radii. A closer examination of these radii emphasises the influence of the afore mentioned number of fitting points. For the optimal value, significantly precise radii could be determined. Finally, an application of the new setup is presented. In cooperation with the chair of experimental physics I (group of Prof. Dr. M. Weiss) of the University of Bayreuth, the diffusion behaviour of single nanoparticles in a complex fluid was studied. Background hereto is the investigation of biochemical reactions in a biological cell, whose kinetic is given by the diffusion of the corresponding reaction partners. Due to the high crowding of the cell compartments the diffusion is hindered. The diffusion behaviour in these systems is called anomalous and more exactly subdiffusive. Several theoretical models have been developed to explain this phenomenon, but yet without experimental verifications. Here, the diffusion of 50nm sized polymer beads in the model system dextran (a highly branched biopolysaccaride) is investigated experimentally with high spatial and temporal resolution. The data were analysed in the group of the cooperation partner which yields a very good agreement with the model of “fractional Brownian motion”. These results were also published (publication P3).

Level thesis:degree_level

thesis.doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher

Universität Bayreuth

Year

2012

Author dc:creator

• Ernst, Dominique

Contributors dc:contributor

• Köhler, Jürgen

Repository record source_url

https://epub.uni-bayreuth.de/id/eprint/169/

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:epub.uni-bayreuth.de:169