Dear Colleagues,

In my personal research experience, I have had several clues that the lack of communication between the very wide and diverse actors of the “end-user” community raising the problems to be solved by means of single-molecule studies (spanning from molecular biologists to quantum physicists), and the scientists of the physical and engineering proficiencies which might provide them with the tools to find the pertaining solutions in the next future, is a major obstacle to the diffusion and optimal exploitation of single molecule techniques. Accordingly, this Special Issue of Photonics, devoted to techniques allowing the observation and analysis of molecular systems on a few-single molecule scale, does not have the ambition to constitute an exhaustive panorama of the state of art in this fascinating branch of physics; it is rather intended to provide an interdisciplinary forum for different professionals involved in the research on the topic. In particular, the ideal goal would be to present a number of challenging scientific topics requiring particularly demanding performances of experimental setups, identify the figures of merit required to optimally address such topics and involve technology experts to offer a comprehensive overview of the most innovative detectors and laser sources, both commercial and “out of market”, as well as scientists committed to devising or implementing strategies and methods to overcome the actual limits of single-molecule analysis in terms of intensity, spatial and temporal resolution.

This crosstalk should, in turn, provide a glancing view on the several interconnected aspects that are to be tackled in the next future, in the hope to offer a less sectorial point of view and, possibly, an occasion to develop new networks. To this aim, high quality original research articles are welcomed in the following and other related topics: single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer and fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy experiments; super-resolution fluorescence microscopy studies; manipulation and imaging techniques exploiting the ability of inducing or at least monitoring through photonics the response of single molecules to nano-mechanical stress, such as molecular tweezers and atomic force microscopy. Well documented reviews on either single-molecule techniques or the performances of detectors and light sources in single-molecule applications are also solicited.

Dr. Luca Nardo
Guest Editor

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• light sources and detectors for single-molecules photonics applications
• single-molecule FRET
• optical tweezers
• atomic force microscopy
• magnetic tweezers
• fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy
• super-resolution microscopy