Total internal reflection fluorescence Raman microscope (TIR-F-R-M)

JKU - Johannes Kepler University Linz

Linz | Website

Open for Collaboration

Short Description

This infrastructure enables the chemical, physical, and optical characterization of thin biological and synthetic films at solid/liquid and liquid/liquid interfaces. It can be used to examine bioorganic molecules (e.g., lipids, polymers, membrane proteins, and their interactions) in high resolution. A SAFe 180 illumination system developed by Abbelight for high-throughput 2D single-molecule and TIRF imaging with homogeneous illumination of a large field of view (150x150µm² at 100x) is combined with a Raman spectrometer from Andor Technology and an IX83 digital microscope from Evident Europe.

The setup is equipped with three laser lines (488 nm, 532 nm (suitable for Raman) and 638 nm), which enable epi-, light sheet and total internal reflection illumination. Raman spectroscopy can be used to obtain vibrational spectra of molecular films at interfaces without resonance or surface enrichment. Geometric confinement with internal total reflection enhances chemical signals from the interface layer and suppresses the water background. In addition, the fluorescence system supports various high-resolution microscopy techniques such as DNA-PAINT, STORM, and PALM.

Contact Person

Assoz.Univ.-Prof. DI Dr. Andreas Horner

Research Services

For details please contact the responsible scientist.

Methods & Expertise for Research Infrastructure

Andreas Horner, Institute of Biophysics, and Sabine Hild, Institute of Polymer Science, combine their expertise in biophysical characterization of lipid/polymer-based membranes and incorporated membrane proteins and the physic-chemical characterization of macromolecular materials, respectively.