Point spread function (PSF) phantoms based on unstructured distributions of sub-resolution particles in a transparent matrix have been demonstrated as a useful tool for evaluating resolution and its spatial variation across image volumes in optical coherence tomography (OCT) systems. Measurements based on PSF phantoms have the potential to become a standard test method for consistent, objective...

Gold nanoshells (GNS) are novel metal nanoparticles exhibiting attractive optical properties which make them highly suitable for biophotonics applications. We present a novel investigation using plasmon-enhanced four wave mixing microscopy combined with coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy to visualize the distribution of 75 nm radius GNS within live cells. During a laser tol...

Gold nanoshells (GNS) are a new class of nanoparticles that can be optically tuned to scatter or absorb light from the near-ultraviolet to near-infrared (NIR) region by varying the core (dielectric silica)/shell (gold) ratio. In addition to spectral tunability, GNS are inert and bioconjugatable, making them potential labels for in vivo imaging and therapy of tumors. We report the use of GNS as ...

We present an approach alternative to the hybridization model for the treatment of the coupled interfacial plasmon modes in spheroidal metallic nanoshells. Rather than formulating the problem from the Lagrangian dynamics of the free electronic fluid, we adopt an effective medium approach together with the uniqueness of the solutions to electromagnetic boundary value problem, from which the pola...

Fabrication methods for a 3D periodic nanostructure with excellent and unique properties for various applications, such as photonic and phononic crystals, have attracted considerable interest. Templating processes using colloidal crystals have been proposed to create nanoshell-based 3D structures over a large area with ease. However, there are technical limitations in structural design, resulti...

The fluorescence characteristics of a dipole molecule in the vicinity of a spherical multilayered metallic nanoshell (a plasmonic nanomatryoska) of ultra-small dimensions is studied via electrodynamic modeling, where we have computed the fluorescence decay rates, the shifts in emission frequency, and the overall fluorescence yields for molecular dipoles of both tangential and radial orientation...

The surface plasmon resonance peaks of gold nanostructures can be tuned from the visible to the near infrared region by controlling the shape and structure (solid vs. hollow). In this tutorial review we highlight this concept by comparing four typical examples: nanospheres, nanorods, nanoshells, and nanocages. A combination of this optical tunability with the inertness of gold makes gold nanost...