1. Home
  2. About Us
  3. MPL People
  4. Richard Taylor

Dr. Richard Taylor

  • Postdoctoral Fellow
  • Room: A.3.242
  • Telephone: +49 9131 7133352
  • E-mail

I am interested in the potential of interferometric scattering microscopy to uncover the hidden dynamics of biology at the nanoscale, in particular, in exploring what we can learn about membrane organization and cellular function. I am also excited to develop nanofluidic tools to facilitate novel investigations into single-cell biology via advanced optical microscopies.

2016

Optimizing SERS from Gold Nanoparticle Clusters: Addressing the Near Field by an Embedded Chain Plasmon Model

Richard W. Taylor, Rubén Esteban, Sumeet Mahajan, Javier Aizpurua, Jeremy J. Baumberg

The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 120 10512-10522 (2016) | Journal

We study experimentally and theoretically the optimization of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) from nanoplasmonic clusters of gold nanoparticles separated by a fixed subnanometer gap. To maximize the enhancement we discuss how the optimal cluster size is influenced by the constituent nanoparticle size and illumination wavelength. We find good qualitative agreement between the experimental SERS from nanoparticle clusters and a simple composite model that describes the response of the full cluster as arising from a composition of linear nanochains. For fixed illumination wavelengths encountered experimentally it is best to choose a cluster size that supports its lowest energy resonance near this wavelength. Our chain simulations indicate the existence of an optimal length also when the illumination laser is continuously tuned to the frequency that maximizes the signal. We explain the optimal length under these illumination conditions with a simple model that accounts explicitly for radiative losses.

Monitoring Early‐Stage Nanoparticle Assembly in Microdroplets by Optical Spectroscopy and SERS

Andrew R. Salmon, Ruben Esteban, Richard W. Taylor, James T. Hugall, Clive A. Smith, Graeme Whyte, Oren A. Scherman, Javier Aizpurua, Chris Abell, et al.

Small 12 1788-1796 (2016) | Journal

Microfluidic microdroplets have increasingly found application in biomolecular sensing as well as nanomaterials growth. More recently the synthesis of plasmonic nanostructures in microdroplets has led to surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)-based sensing applications. However, the study of nanoassembly in microdroplets has previously been hindered by the lack of on-chip characterization tools, particularly at early timescales. Enabled by a refractive index matching microdroplet formulation, dark-field spectroscopy is exploited to directly track the formation of nanometer-spaced gold nanoparticle assemblies in microdroplets. Measurements in flow provide millisecond time resolution through the assembly process, allowing identification of a regime where dimer formation dominates the dark-field scattering and SERS. Furthurmore, it is shown that small numbers of nanoparticles can be isolated in microdroplets, paving the way for simple high-yield assembly, isolation, and sorting of few nanoparticle structures.

Visualization of lipids and proteins at high spatial and temporal resolution via interferometric scattering (iSCAT) microscopy

Susann Spindler, Jens Ehrig, Katharina König, Tristan Nowak, Marek Piliarik, Hannah E. Stein, Richard W. Taylor, Elisabeth Garanger, Sebastien Lecommandoux, et al.

Journal of Physics D - Applied Physics 49 274002 (2016) | Journal

Microscopy based on the interferometric detection of light scattered from nanoparticles (iSCAT) was introduced in our laboratory more than a decade ago. In this work, we present various capabilities of iSCAT for biological studies by discussing a selection of our recent results. In particular, we show tracking of lipid molecules in supported lipid bilayers (SLBs), tracking of gold nanoparticles with diameters as small as 5 nm and at frame rates close to 1 MHz, 3D tracking of Tat peptide-coated nanoparticles on giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs), imaging the formation of lipid bilayers, sensing single unlabelled proteins and tracking their motion under electric fields, as well as challenges of studying live cell membranes. These studies set the ground for future quantitative research on dynamic biophysical processes at the nanometer scale.

I was born in the United Kingdom where I completed my graduate studies, gaining a Masters (1st, Hons) in Physics from the University of Birmingham in 2009. Thereafter I completed my doctoral studies in 2013 in the Nanophotonics group of Prof. Jeremy J. Baumberg at the University of Cambridge. The subject of my doctoral work was ‘On the sub-nm plasmonics of gold nanoparticles clusters’, which led to a patent for ‘Plasmonic junctions for surface-enhanced spectroscopy’. In 2013 I joined the group of Prof. Sandoghdar to develop interferometric scattering microscopy for application to live cells, becoming a Humboldt Postdoctoral fellow in 2015. In addition to research activities, I also enjoy aiding efforts for scientific outreach, and I also co-organised the first international workshop on interferometric scattering microscopy in 2020.

MPL Research Centers and Schools

© Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light

Data Collection

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website.

Get more info about used cookies
Cookie optin by Olli machts