Investigation of nanolocal fluorescence resonance energy transfer for scanning probe microscopy

Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) has been observed between donor dye molecules deposited onto the sample surface and acceptor dye molecules deposited onto the scanning near-field optical microscope (SNOM) or atomic force microscope tip. FRET was observed only when the tip acquired a contact with the sample and took place in a region of few tens of square nanometers in size when thousands (hundreds) of molecules are involved. In view of the obtained results, the perspectives for the construction of a one-atom FRET SNOM are described.