A Self-Assembled Microlensing Rotational Probe

Abstract

A technique to measure microscopic rotational motion is presented. When a small fluorescent polystyrene microsphere is attached to a larger polystyrene microsphere, the larger sphere acts as a lens for the smaller microsphere and provides an optical signal that is a strong function of the azimuthal angle. We demonstrate the technique by measuring the rotational diffusion constant of the microsphere in solutions of varying viscosity and discuss the feasibility of using this probe to measure rotational motion of biological systems.