Multicolor Cathodoluminescence Microscopy for Biological Imaging with Nanophosphors

Abstract

We report the first demonstration of a multicolor high-spatial-resolution imaging technique for observation of biological cells using cathodoluminescence from nanophosphors. Three kinds of rare-earth-doped nanophosphors were injected into J744A.1 macrophages, and the spatial distribution of nanophosphors was visualized by using a scanning electron microscope cathodoluminescence (SEM-CL) system. The spectral bandwidth of the phosphors was narrow enough to distinguish the types of the phosphors. CL images of the nanophosphors on Si substrates were obtained with high resolution comparable to that of SEM images. These nanophosphors will be candidates to image more than two kinds of biological molecules at high resolution.