Regensburg 2010 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 13: Nanoparticles and Viruses

BP 13.4: Talk

Tuesday, March 23, 2010, 15:00–15:15, H45

Single gold nanoparticles as optothermal tools in phospholipid membranes — Tom Pfeiffer, •Alexander S. Urban, Michael Fedoruk, Fernando Stefani, and Jochen Feldmann — Photonics and Optoelectronics Group, Physics Department and CeNS, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Amalienstr. 54, 80799 Munich, Germany

Metallic nanoparticles (NPs) can be efficiently heated by illuminating them at their plasmon resonances. In recent years, optical (plasmonic) heating of ensembles of NPs has found a number of applications including remote release [1], DNA-melting analysis [2] and even as a prospect for cancer therapy [3]. Recently, we have started the investigation and application of plasmonic heating of individual NPs, which enables unprecedented nanoscale thermal investigations. In particular, we have used the NPs to remotely (optically) induce and characterize reversible phase (gel-fluid) transitions of nanometric regions of a phospholipid membrane [4]. Furthermore, the control over the phase transition allowed us to guide the nanoparticles to specific locations on the membrane. Currently, we are investigating the possibility of manipulating transport across the membrane with optically heated NPs. It has been postulated that during the gel-fluid transition pores may open in the membrane due to phospholipid reordering. We test this possibility by studying the penetration of the membrane by nanoparticles and molecules of different sizes as a function of the optical heating of NPs bound to the membrane.