Bio-optimized energy transfer in densely packed fluorescent protein enables near-maximal luminescence and solid-state lasers
Malte C. Gathera b✉, Seok Hyun Yunb c✉
- a1] Harvard Medical School and Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, 65 Landsdowne Street UP-5, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [2] SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS, UK
- bHarvard Medical School and Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, 65 Landsdowne Street UP-5, Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts, USA
- c1] Harvard Medical School and Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, 65 Landsdowne Street UP-5, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [2] Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
- ✉Corresponding author
Papers open inside SciRah from the original publisher or repository; SciRah never hosts them.
Abstract
Bioluminescent organisms are likely to have an evolutionary drive towards high radiance. As such, bio-optimized materials derived from them hold great promise for photonic applications. Here, we show that biologically produced fluorescent proteins retain their high brightness even at the maximum density in solid state through a special molecular structure that provides optimal balance between high protein concentration and low resonance energy transfer self-quenching. Dried films of green fluorescent protein show low fluorescence quenching (−7 dB) and support strong optical amplification (gnet=22 cm−1; 96 dB cm−1). Using these properties, we demonstrate vertical cavity surface emitting micro-lasers with low threshold (<100 pJ, outperforming organic semiconductor lasers) and self-assembled all-protein ring lasers. Moreover, solid-state blends of different proteins support efficient Förster resonance energy transfer, with sensitivity to intermolecular distance thus allowing all-optical sensing. The design of fluorescent proteins may be exploited for bio-inspired solid-state luminescent molecules or nanoparticles. Mammalian and bacteria cells producing fluorescent proteins (FP) have been recently proposed as living sources of laser light. Here, Gather and Yun demonstrate efficient lasing in the solid state form of FPs and observed Förster resonance energy transfer between molecules in blends of different FPs.
TL;DRIt is shown that biologically produced fluorescent proteins retain their high brightness even at the maximum density in solid state through a special molecular structure that provides optimal balance between high protein concentration and low resonance energy transfer self-quenching. (Semantic Scholar)