Gold Nanoparticles Prove to Be Hot Stuff

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A gold nanobead trapped with 205 milliwatts of infrared laser light heats up to about 75 degrees C or 167 degrees F (shown in dark red) and the temperature in the surrounding area gradually cools off (the purple area is about 40 degrees C or 104 degr ...
A gold nanobead, trapped with 205 milliwatts of infrared laser light, heats up to about 75 degrees C or 167 degrees F (shown in dark red) and the temperature in the surrounding area gradually cools off (the purple area is about 40 degrees C or 104 degrees F). Credit: Yeonee Seol/JILA

Gold nanoparticles are highly efficient and sensitive “handles” for biological molecules being manipulated and tracked by lasers, but they also can heat up fast—by tens of degrees in just a few nanoseconds—which could either damage the molecules or help study them, according to scientists at JILA, a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and University of Colorado at Boulder.


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