Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy as a probe of molecular dynamics

Abstract

A general theory of fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS), including the effects of translational and rotational motions and chemical reactions, in ideal solutions, is given. The development is carried out explicitly for symmetric rotors of parallel transition moments and generalized to arbitrary configurations of the moments and to asymmetric rotors in the appendices. In addition, the effects of experimental geometry on the measured FCS correlation function are discussed in detail and the optimum geometries, for experiments seeking to measure different quantities, are given. We conclude with a brief discussion of signal‐to‐noise ratios and prospects for applications.