https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2014-02280-1
Regular Article
FRET lasing from self-assembled DNA tetrahedral nanostructures suspended in optofluidic droplet resonators
1 Department of Physics, Koç University, Rumelifeneri Yolu, Sariyer, 34450 Istanbul, Turkey
2 Department of Physics, Istanbul Technical University, Maslak, 34469 Istanbul, Turkey
3 Division of Physical Biology, and Bioimaging Center, Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China
4 Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, 1101 Beal Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
a e-mail: akiraz@ku.edu.tr
Received: 13 May 2014
Revised: 4 August 2014
Published online: 6 October 2014
We demonstrate Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) lasing from self-assembled tetrahedral DNA complexes labeled with Cy3 and Cy5 dyes and suspended as a gain medium in aqueous microdroplet cavities deposited on a superhydrophobic surface. Threshold fluence and differential efficiency are characterized for DNA complexes containing 1Cy3-3Cy5 and 3Cy3-1Cy5. We demonstrate that at a constant Cy5 concentration, average threshold fluence is reduced 3 to 8 times and average differential efficiency is enhanced 6 to 30 times for 3Cy3-1Cy5 as compared to 1Cy3-3Cy5. Using 3Cy3-1Cy5 nanostructures, FRET lasing is observed at very low concentrations down to ∼ 1 μM. This work shows that optofluidic microlasers based on droplet resonators can be combined with DNA nanotechnology to explore applications in bio/chemical sensing and novel photonic devices.
© EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag, 2014
