New eyes on soft matter on the nanometer scale

School of Physics Soft Condensed Matter & Physics of Living Systems Seminar: Prof. Ernst-Ludwig Florin, University of Texas at Austin

I will introduce a novel type of three-dimensional super-resolution scanning probe microscopy specifically designed for imaging soft nanostructures. The microscope uses optically trapped nanoparticles as scanning probe sensors to explore porous soft nanostructures, such as biopolymer networks. The thermal motion of the probe particle is used as a “natural scanner” for local imaging, while larger volumes are explored by moving the sample. So called “Thermal Noise Imaging” is currently the most sensitive method to mechanically probe soft matter structure on the nanometer scale. But Thermal Noise Imaging does not only resolve structure, the images contain a wealth of information about their mechanics and other important parameters which are not accessible by other types of super-resolution microscopes.

[1] Bartsch, T. F., Kochanczyk, M. D., Lissek, E. N., Lange, J. R. & Florin, E.-L. Nanoscopic imaging of thick heterogeneous soft-matter structures in aqueous solution. Nature Communications 7, 12729 (2016). [2] Keidel, A., Bartsch, T. F. & Florin, E.-L. Direct observation of intermediate states in model membrane fusion. Scientific Reports 6, 23691 (2016). [3] Super-resolution MicroscopeBuilds 3D Images by Mapping Negative Space, http://news.utexas.edu/2016/09/06/new-microscope-builds-3d-images-by-mapping-negativespace