Table of contents : Preparation of Noble Metal Colloids and Selected Structures....Pages 1-24 Near-Field Scanning Optical Microscopy: Alternative Modes of Use for NSOM Probes....Pages 25-46 Nanoparticles with Tunable Localized Surface Plasmon Resonances....Pages 47-99 Colloid Surface Chemistry....Pages 101-133 Bioanalytical Sensing Using Noble Metal Colloids....Pages 135-195 Theory of Fluorophore-Metallic Surface Interactions....Pages 197-221 Surface-Enhancement of Fluorescence Near Noble Metal Nanostructures....Pages 223-247 Time Resolved Fluorescence Measurements of Fluorophores Close to Metal Nanoparticles....Pages 249-273 Copper-Coated Self-Assembled Monolayers: Alkanethiols and Prospective Molecular Wires....Pages 275-303 Principles and Applications of Surface-Plasmon Field-Enhanced Fluorescence Techniques....Pages 305-332 Optically Detectable Colloidal Metal Labels: Properties, Methods, and Biomedical Applications....Pages 333-351 Noble Metal Nanoparticle Biosensors....Pages 353-380 Surface Plasmon-Coupled Emission: A New Method for Sensitive Fluorescence Detection....Pages 381-403 Radiative Decay Engineering (RDE)....Pages 405-448