Single-molecule fluorescence near a metal layer

A theoretical study of the fluorescence emission properties of a single dye molecule near a metal film is presented. The study accounts not only for the well-known fluorescing quenching of a dye near a metal interface, but also for the reduced photobleaching rate due to the enhanced de-excitation rate. it is shown, that despite the high fluorescence quenching rates, the increased photostability of the molecule makes spectroscopic studies on single-molecule level feasible. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.