Nanoscopic imaging of molecular conformations in physiological conditions

In this talk, I will discuss how light can be sculpted with engineered nanostructures to enhance chiral light-matter interactions. With these nanostructures, we have developed optical force nanoscopes to visualize and quantify molecular chirality with high sensitivity and resolution. Specifically, we have designed and developed a cavity-enhanced atomic force microscope to image chiral optical forces with nanometer spatial resolution and piconewton force sensitivity. We use this technique to measure the chirality of DNA molecules, on the order of few tens of molecules. These studies provide a foundation for new sensing and imaging techniques at the single molecular to cellular level in-situ and in real time.