Making gold nanoparticles fluorescent for simultaneous absorption and fluorescence detection on the single particle level.

We demonstrate a simple way of making individual 20 nm gold nanoparticles fluorescent (with a fluorescence quantum yield of about 10(-6)) in glycerol. Gold NPs prepared in such a way have bright fluorescence for a long time under moderate excitation, and their fluorescence remains when the solvent is exchanged to water. We propose to use these nanoparticles as a calibration standard for simultaneous detection of fluorescence and absorption (by means of photothermal detection), and experimentally demonstrate the theoretically predicted shift in axial positions of these signals. Simultaneous absorption and fluorescence detection of such stable labels makes them attractive for multidimensional tracking and screening applications.