One often hears that nanoscience or, in other words, the knowledge and control of matter at length scales of a few nanometers, will be the scientific frontier of the 21st century. Although it has become almost commonplace, this prediction deserves some justification. The technological and scientific stakes of nanoscience indeed encompass many fields of science: they include the ultimate miniaturization of electronic devices to acquire, store, and process information, and also such basic endeavors as understanding the microscopic processes and patterns responsible for the physical properties of materials, or the many unsolved questions raised by the astoundingly intricate workings of living matter. Although the dream of observing and controlling matter at molecular scales is nearly as old as the very concept of molecules, earlier attempts at practical realizations were hampered by a scarcity of suitable access to the nanoworld. During the last two decades of the 20th century, owing to the several new tools which have been developed to address objects at nanometer scales, the nanoworld appears closer than ever, within our reach! A major class of methods in nanoscience are local probe microscopies such as scanning tunnelling or atomic force microscopies. They require scanning a sharp tip with molecular dimensions across the surface of the sample under study and, by direct action of the tip on the sample, they make nano-manipulations possible. The present book is devoted to another class of methods, the selection and study of single, optically active nano-objects by purely optical means.

The most comprehensive book on the application of single molecule spectroscopy in chemical physics, biology and nanosciences The competence of the participants in the Nobel Conference is reflected by the scientific quality of the book

Klappentext
This book surveys recent advances related to the application of single molecule techniques in various fields of science. The topics, each described by leading experts in the field, range from single molecule experiments in quantum optics and solid-state physics to analogous investigations in physical chemistry and biophysics. A unifying theme of all chapters is the power of single molecule techniques to unravel fluctuations and heterogeneities usually hidden in the ensemble average of complex systems. The concept for the book originated from a gathering of some of the world's leading scientists at the Nobel Conference in Sweden.

Inhalt
1 History of Optical Trapping and Manipulation of Small Neutral Particles, Atoms, and Molecules.- 2 Thirteen Years of Single-Molecule Spectroscopy in Physical Chemistry and Biophysics.- 3 The Electronic Structure of Single Photosynthetic Pigment-Protein Complexes.- 4 Single-Molecule Optical Switching: A Mechanistic Study of Nonphotochemical Hole-Burning.- 5 Triggered Emission of Single Photons by a Single Molecule.- 6 Photophysics of Conjugated Polymers Unmasked by Single Molecule Spectroscopy.- 7 Confining and Probing Single Molecules in Synthetic Liposomes.- 8 Single Molecule Detection Using Near Infrared Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering.- 9 Single-Molecule Fluorescence Each Photon Counts.- 10 Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy in Single-Molecule Analysis: Enzymatic Catalysis at the Single Molecule Level.- 11 The Characterization of a Transmembrane Receptor Protein by Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy.- 12 Applications of Dual-Color Confocal Fluorescence Spectroscopy in Biotechnology.- 13 Single-Molecule Enzymology.- 14 Single-Molecule Enzymology.- 15 The Energy Landscape.- 16 Coherent Intramolecular Dynamics in Small Enzyme Populations.- 17 Single-Molecule Dynamics in Biosystems.- 18 Single-Molecule Dynamics Associated with Protein Folding and Deformations of Light-Harvesting Complexes.- 19 The Study of Single Biomolecules with Fluorescence Methods.- 20 Studying the Green Fluorescent Protein with Single-Molecule Spectroscopy.