This proposal describes a research program that will explore a new method for high precision nanosurgery of living systems called plasmonic laser nanosurgery (PLN). In PLN, nanoparticles act like "nano-lenses" by focusing the laser energy to a small, confined region near their surface creating nanoscale cuts at the locations where they are attached. By attaching nanoparticles to targeted cellular structures, regions of tissue can be illuminated with a large laser spot, vaporizing only the targeted structures with a precision of 50 nm or less, while leaving all surrounding areas undamaged. This investigation is aimed at extending the capabilities of femtosecond (fs) laser nanosurgery beyond the diffraction limit of light (ë/10 resolution) while eliminating the need for precise and time-consuming laser focusing.
