Plasmonic nanostructures exhibit a strong field enhancement due to the excitation of localized and propagating surface plasmon polaritons. The use of these effects yields in a wide range of analytical applications. For instance, the strong electromagnetic field enhancement may be used to dramatically increase fluorescence, Raman cross sections (surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy - SERS) or IR absorption. Since the requirements to a powerful technique are both a fingerprint specificity and high sensitivity, the SERS method is a powerful tool for a variety of analytical applications in (bio)chemical and biological analysis. Because the reproducibility of established SERS arrays (e. g. roughened metal electrodes and aggregated metal nanoparticle) across a large measuring area is rather low, we have established an e-beam (electron beam lithography) based fabrication process yielding in regularly patterned gold nanorhomb arrays. The anisotropic optical response of the SERS array is characterized. Furthermore, the SERS arrays are investigated with respect to the second part of their electromagnetic enhancement, resulting in design and fabrication criteria of potential SERS arrays.

Date Published: 28 April 2010
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 7715, Biophotonics: Photonic Solutions for Better Health Care II, 771535 (28 April 2010); doi: 10.1117/12.854180

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7715:
Biophotonics: Photonic Solutions for Better Health Care II
Jürgen Popp; Wolfgang Drexler; Valery V. Tuchin; Dennis L. Matthews, Editor(s)