Influence of interface-dipole interactions on the efficiency of fluorescence light collection near surfaces

Recently Torok and colleagues published in a series of papers a general wave-optical approach to calculating the light-collection efficiency function (CEF) for confocal imaging of dipole emitters [J. Mod. Opt. 45, 1681 (1998); J. Microsc. 194, 127 (1999); Opt. Lett. 25, 1463 (2000)]. In their theory they did not address the possibility that the lifetimes of fluorescing molecules can change significantly near interfaces, which has a direct effect on the CEF. The research of Torok and colleagues is extended here to include this effect, which may become important for imaging near surfaces. (C) 2003 Optical Society of America.