Nano Optics

Focus

The newly established Nano Optics group focuses on advancing the knowledge of light-matter interactions below the diffraction limit of light as well as development of novel experimental methods that address current topics in biology, biophysics, and biochemistry. Although we employ a wide range of procedures, our investigative toolbox is mainly comprised of single-particle and single-molecule optical techniques. In particular, approaches such as light microscopy, laser spectroscopy, quantum optics, near-field optics, and plasmonics are combined with chemical and bioanalytical methods and biotechnologies to achieve a robust array of exciting projects.

Research projects

• ERC-CZ Optical imaging of single protein dynamics
• High-fidelity fast tracking of protein motion mechanisms

Complete overview of projects

Publications

1. Ł. Bujak, K. Holanová, A.G. Marin, V. Henrichs, I. Barvík, M. Braun, Z. Lánský, M. Piliarik, Fast leaps between millisecond confinements govern Ase1 diffusion along microtubules, PREPRINT, BioRxiv (2021) 2021.04.15.439939, doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.15.439939.
2. Y. He, S. Lin, H. Robert, H. Li, P. Zhang, M. Piliarik, X.-W. Chen, Multiscale Modeling and Analysis for High-fidelity Interferometric Scattering Microscopy, Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics (2021) doi: https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6463/abf70d.
3. H. Robert, Ł. Bujak, K. Holanová, M. Vala, V. Henrichs, Z. Lánský, M. Piliarik, Fast photothermal spatial light modulation for quantitative phase imaging at the nanoscale, Nature Communications 12 (2021) 2921; doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23252-3.
4. M. Vala, L. Bujak, A.G. Marin, K. Holanova, V. Henrichs, M. Braun, Z. Lansky, M. Piliarik, Nanoscopic Structural Fluctuations of Disassembling Microtubules Revealed by Label-Free Super-Resolution Microscopy, Small Methods (2021) 2000985; doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/smtd.202000985.
5. M. Vala, D. Palounek, H. M. L. Robert, M. Piliarik, Quantitative detection of optical anisotropy of single microtubules by polarization-sensitive interferometric scattering microscopy, Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics (2021); doi: https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6463/abe669.

Complete overview of publications