Abstract

The dynamic fluorescence characteristics of individual dye molecules in specific local environment are of particular interest for many biological applications.1,2 Furthermore, dye molecules that are influenced by the environment can act as molecular probes, i. e. they exhibit information about neighbouring groups and changes in the microenvironment. They also allow the direct observation of individual dynamic events such as conformational changes of a biological macromolecule if they are monitored on the single-molecule level. In addition, measurements on individual molecules are well suited for the study of complex systems in which it is not known whether all molecules exhibit the same characteristics or each molecule contributes with its individual characteristics to the observed behaviour.

© 1998 Optical Society of America