I am like to see the blinking of CdSe/CdS quantum dots using confocal microscopy and I need to observe it for a long time (few minutes). Did the the dried quantum dots in a glass slide show blinking?
What is the spatial resolution of your confocal microscope? Can you resolve the individual QDs, and is the system stable enough mechanically over that period of time? The laser runs in scanning mode, so the QDs will not be continuously excited. Do you need to have a separate source of excitation for this?
Jeffrey J Weimer The spatial resolution we could get around 200-250 nm with 63x objective. We had 20 nm Quantum Dots (QDs), but we could only able to see its by the diffraction limited resolution as a 400-450 nm spots. So may be I was seeing aggregates.
Our confocal setup was equipped with pulsed lasers with 40MHz maximum frequency and I also tried it with fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS), so I was not limited with temporal resolution.
The spatial resolution of the confocal limits what you will be able to see. I cannot address the question of whether the QDs blink when dry or not. I defer this to people who are experts in the field. A literature review of the mechanisms of blinking is also to be recommended.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Physical Sciences
- Materials Science
- Materials
- Inorganic Materials
- Ceramics
- Glass