Photobleaching, metallic nanoparticle

In two more recent papers on single molecule fluorescence near thin metallic layers, Enderlein reminds us that the quenching by metal nanoparticles shortens the lifetime of the excited state and by doing this, increases the number of excitation cycles that the molecule can survive before it is photobleached. This is an extremely important point, especially when dealing with single molecules, as fluorescence quantum yields are not nearly as important as the number of photons that are emitted before photobleaching occurs. 

Muthu, P., Gryczynski, I., Gryczynski, Z., Talent, J., Akopova 1., Jain, K., Borejdo, J. (2008). Decreasing photobleaching by silver nanoparticles on metal surfaces application to muscle myofibrils. J. Biomed Opt. 13 014023. 

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