title: Size-correlated spectroscopy and imaging of rare-earth-doped nanocrystals.
abstract: Isolated europium-doped metal-oxide nanoparticles were probed by size-correlated high-numerical-aperture (far-field) imaging techniques. A modified Digital Instruments Bioscope atomic force microscope mounted upon a Nikon TE300 inverted microscope was used to interrogate (dry) particles ranging in size from 2 to 150 nm on the surface of a glass or quartz coverslip. These experiments revealed several interesting features of doped-nanoparticle luminescence such as Poissonian occupation statistics, size-dependent luminescence efficiency enhancement for particle sizes of <10 nm, and correlation of interesting transient behavior at particle sizes of <5 nm.
authors.affiliation: Chemical Sciences and Life Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
authors.forename: Adosh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mehta
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Thundat
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Barnes
authors.forename: Vishal
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Chhabra
authors.forename: Ramesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bhargava
authors.forename: Andrew P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Bartko
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Dickson