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Concept
Förster resonance energy transfer
Summary
Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), fluorescence resonance energy transfer, resonance energy transfer (RET) or electronic energy transfer (EET) is a mechanism describing energy transfer between two light-sensitive molecules (chromophores). A donor chromophore, initially in its electronic excited state, may transfer energy to an acceptor chromophore through nonradiative dipole–dipole coupling. The efficiency of this energy transfer is inversely proportional to the sixth power of the distance between donor and acceptor, making FRET extremely sensitive to small changes in distance.
Measurements of FRET efficiency can be used to determine if two fluorophores are within a certain distance of each other. Such measurements are used as a research tool in fields including biology and chemistry.
FRET is analogous to near-field communication, in that the radius of interaction is much smaller than the wavelength of light emitted. In the near-field region, the excited chromophore emits a virtual photon that is instantly absorbed by a receiving chromophore. These virtual photons are undetectable, since their existence violates the conservation of energy and momentum, and hence FRET is known as a radiationless mechanism. Quantum electrodynamical calculations have been used to determine that radiationless (FRET) and radiative energy transfer are the short- and long-range asymptotes of a single unified mechanism.
Förster resonance energy transfer is named after the German scientist Theodor Förster. When both chromophores are fluorescent, the term "fluorescence resonance energy transfer" is often used instead, although the energy is not actually transferred by fluorescence. In order to avoid an erroneous interpretation of the phenomenon that is always a nonradiative transfer of energy (even when occurring between two fluorescent chromophores), the name "Förster resonance energy transfer" is preferred to "fluorescence resonance energy transfer"; however, the latter enjoys common usage in scientific literature.
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