Fan-shaped gold nanoantennas above reflective substrates for surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA)

Metamaterial-enhanced infrared attenuated total reflection spectroscopy

The use of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy with attenuated total reflection (FTIR-ATR) allows solid or liquid samples to be characterised directly without specific sample preparation. In such a system, the evanescent waves generated through total internal reflection within a crystal interact with the sample under test. In this work we explore the use of a mid-infrared metasurface to enhance the interaction between molecular vibrations and the evanescent waves. A complementary ring-resonator structure was patterned onto both silicon and SiO₂/Si substrates, and the spectral properties of both devices were characterised using a FTIR-ATR system. Minima in reflectance were observed corresponding to the resonance of the metasurface on the silicon substrate, and to the hybrid resonance of phonon modes and metasurface resonances on the SiO₂/Si substrate, in good agreement with simulations. Preliminary experiments were undertaken using mixtures containing trace amounts of butyl acetate diluted with oleic acid. Without the use of a metasurface, the minimum concentration of butyl acetate that could be clearly detected was 10%, whereas the use of the metasurface on the SiO₂/Si substrate allowed the detection of 1% butyl acetate. This demonstrates the potential of using metasurfaces to enhance trace chemical detection in FTIR-ATR systems.

In Vitro Monitoring Conformational Changes of Polypeptide Monolayers Using Infrared Plasmonic Nanoantennas

Proteins and peptides play a predominant role in biochemical reactions of living cells. In these complex environments, not only the constitution of the molecules but also their three-dimensional configuration defines their functionality. This so-called secondary structure of proteins is crucial for understanding their function in living matter. Misfolding, for example, is suspected as the cause of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Ultimately, it is necessary to study a single protein and its folding dynamics. Here, we report a first step in this direction, namely ultrasensitive detection and discrimination of in vitro polypeptide folding and unfolding processes using resonant plasmonic nanoantennas for surface-enhanced vibrational spectroscopy. We utilize poly-l-lysine as a model system which has been functionalized on the gold surface. By in vitro infrared spectroscopy of a single molecular monolayer at the amide I vibrations we directly monitor the reversible conformational changes between α-helix and β-sheet states induced by controlled external chemical stimuli. Our scheme in combination with advanced positioning of the peptides and proteins and more brilliant light sources is highly promising for ultrasensitive in vitro studies down to the single protein level.

Multifunctional Zn-Al layered double hydroxides for surface-enhanced Raman scattering and surface-enhanced infrared absorption

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) are complementary techniques, and both provide fingerprint structural information on various materials with a high sensitivity. Herein, Zn-Al layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are proposed for the first time as highly sensitive and uniform substrates for both SERS and SEIRA. Zn-Al LDHs show a remarkable SERS effect with an enhancement factor (EF) as high as 1.637 × 104 by using 4-mercaptobenzoic acid (4-MBA) as the probe molecule, where the charge transfer and hydrogen bonds are believed to result in the SERS effect. Interestingly, Zn-Al LDHs also exhibit SEIRA by using 4-methoxybenzenethiol (4-MTP), where the resultant substrates possess excellent long-term stability. This study not only presents a facile route to fabricate LDH materials, but also provides a novel substrate that can be used in both SERS and SEIRA.

Extraordinary optical fields in nanostructures: from sub-diffraction-limited optics to sensing and energy conversion

Along with the rapid development of micro/nanofabrication technology, the past few decades have seen the flourishing emergence of subwavelength-structured materials and interfaces for optical field engineering at the nanoscale. Three remarkable properties associated with these subwavelength-structured materials are the squeezed optical fields beyond the diffraction limit, gradient optical fields in the subwavelength scale, and enhanced optical fields that are orders of magnitude greater than the incident field. These engineered optical fields have inspired fundamental and practical advances in both engineering optics and modern chemistry. The first property is the basis of sub-diffraction-limited imaging, lithography, and dense data storage. The second property has led to the emergence of a couple of thin and planar functional optical devices with a reduced footprint. The third one causes enhanced radiation (e.g., fluorescence), scattering (e.g., Raman scattering), and absorption (e.g., infrared absorption and circular dichroism), offering a unique platform for single-molecule-level biochemical sensing, and high-efficiency chemical reaction and energy conversion. In this review, we summarize recent advances in subwavelength-structured materials that bear extraordinary squeezed, gradient, and enhanced optical fields, with a particular emphasis on their optical and chemical applications. Finally, challenges and outlooks in this promising field are discussed.

Advancements in fractal plasmonics: structures, optical properties, and applications

Fractal nanostructures exhibit optical properties that span the visible to far-infrared and are emerging as exciting structures for plasmon-mediated applications.

Waveguide-Integrated Compact Plasmonic Resonators for On-Chip Mid-Infrared Laser Spectroscopy

The integration of nanoplasmonic devices with a silicon photonic platform affords a new approach for efficient light delivery by combining the high field enhancement of plasmonics and the ultralow propagation loss of dielectric waveguides. Such a hybrid integration obviates the need for a bulky free-space optics setup and can lead to fully integrated, on-chip optical sensing systems. Here, we demonstrate ultracompact plasmonic resonators directly patterned atop a silicon waveguide for mid-infrared spectroscopic chemical sensing. The footprint of the plasmonic nanorod resonators is as small as 2 μm², yet they can couple with the mid-infrared waveguide mode efficiently. The plasmonic resonance is directly measured through the transmission spectrum of the waveguide with a coupling efficiency greater than 70% and a field intensity enhancement factor of over 3600 relative to the evanescent waveguide field intensity. Using this hybrid device and a tunable mid-infrared laser source, surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy of both a thin poly(methyl methacrylate) film and an octadecanethiol monolayer is successfully demonstrated.

Plasmonic nanoantenna-dielectric nanocavity hybrids for ultrahigh local electric field enhancement

A dielectric nanostructure with a high refractive index can exhibit strong optical resonances with considerable electric field enhancement around the entire structure volume. Here we show theoretically that a dielectric structure with this feature can boost the local electric field of a small plasmonic nanoantenna placed nearby. We construct a hybrid system of a plasmonic nanoantenna and a dielectric nanocavity, where the nanocavity is a concentric disk-ring structure with a lossless material n = 3.3 and the nanoantenna is a gold nanorod dimer. The resonant electric field enhancement at the gap center of the antenna in the hybrid structure reaches more than one order of magnitude higher than that of the individual antenna. The dielectric structure plays two roles in the hybrid system, namely the amplified excitation field and an environment causing the redshift of the antenna resonance. The hybrid configuration is applicable to the cases with various geometries and different materials of the hybrid system. Our results can find applications in enhanced nanoscale light-matter interactions such as surface-enhanced Raman scattering, nonlinear optics, and plasmon-exciton couplings.

All-Dielectric Surface-Enhanced Infrared Absorption-Based Gas Sensor Using Guided Resonance

The surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) technique has been focusing on the metallic resonator structures for decades, exploring different approaches to enhance sensitivity. Although the high enhancement is achieved, the dissipative loss and strong heating are the intrinsic drawbacks of metals. Recently, the dielectric platform has emerged as a promising alternative. In this work, we report a guided resonance-based all-dielectric photonic crystal slab as the platform for SEIRA. The guided resonance-induced enhancement in the effective path length and electric field, together with gas enrichment polymer coating, leads to a detection limit of 20 ppm in carbon dioxide (CO₂) sensing. This work explores the feasibility to apply low loss all-dielectric structures as a surface enhancement method in the transmission mode.

Quantifying the Limits of Detection of Surface-Enhanced Infrared Spectroscopy with Grating Order-Coupled Nanogap Antennas

Infrared spectroscopy is widely used for biomolecular studies, but struggles when investigating minute quantities of analytes due to the mismatch between vibrational cross sections and IR wavelengths. It is therefore beneficial to enhance absorption signals by confining the infrared light to deeply subwavelength volumes comparable in size to the biomolecules of interest. This can be achieved with surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy, for which plasmonic nanorod antennas represent the predominant implementation. However, unifying design guidelines for such systems are still lacking. Here, we introduce an experimentally verified framework for designing antenna-based molecular IR spectroscopy sensors. Specifically, we find that in order to maximize the sensing performance, it is essential to combine the signal enhancement originating from nanoscale gaps between the antenna elements with the enhancement obtained from coupling to the grating order modes of the unit cell. Using an optimized grating order-coupled nanogap design, our experiments and numerical simulations show a hotspot limit of detection of two proteins per nanogap. Furthermore, we introduce and analyze additional limit of detection parameters, specifically for deposited surface mass, in-solution concentration, and secondary structure determination. These limits of detection provide valuable reference points for performance metrics of surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy in practical applications, such as the characterization of biological samples in aqueous solution.

Nanoantenna structures for the detection of phonons in nanocrystals

We report a study of the infrared response by localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) modes in gold micro- and nanoantenna arrays with various morphologies and surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) by optical phonons of semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) deposited on the arrays. The arrays of nano- and microantennas fabricated with nano- and photolithography reveal infrared-active LSPR modes of energy ranging from the mid to far-infrared that allow the IR response from very low concentrations of organic and inorganic materials deposited onto the arrays to be analyzed. The Langmuir-Blodgett technology was used for homogeneous deposition of CdSe, CdS, and PbS NC monolayers on the antenna arrays. The structural parameters of the arrays were confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. 3D full-wave electromagnetic simulations of the electromagnetic field distribution around the micro- and nanoantennas were employed to realize the maximal SEIRA enhancement for structural parameters of the arrays whereby the LSPR and the NC optical phonon energies coincide. The SEIRA experiments quantitatively confirmed the computational results. The maximum SEIRA enhancement was observed for linear nanoantennas with optimized structural parameters determined from the electromagnetic simulations. The frequency position of the feature's absorption seen in the SEIRA response evidences that the NC surface and transverse optical phonons are activated in the infrared spectra.

Waveguide-integrated mid-infrared plasmonics with high-efficiency coupling for ultracompact surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy

Waveguide-integrated plasmonics is a growing field with many innovative concepts and demonstrated devices in the visible and near-infrared. Here, we extend this body of work to the mid-infrared for the application of surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA), a spectroscopic method to probe molecular vibrations in small volumes and thin films. Built atop a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguide platform, two key plasmonic structures useful for SEIRA are examined using computational modeling: gold nanorods and coaxial nanoapertures. We find resonance dips of 90% in near diffraction-limited areas due to arrays of our structures and up to 50% from a single resonator. Each of the structures is evaluated using the simulated SEIRA signal from poly(methyl methacrylate) and an octadecanethiol self-assembled monolayer. The platforms we present allow for a compact, on-chip SEIRA sensing system with highly efficient waveguide coupling in the mid-IR.

A Simple Laser Ablation-Assisted Method for Fabrication of Superhydrophobic SERS Substrate on Teflon Film

With high sensitivity at single molecule level, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is considered as an ultrasensitive optical detection technology with broad application prospects in lots of fields. However, the complicated fabrication and unaffordable price of SERS substrate are still a roadblock on the way to be widely used in industry. In this work, the SERS spectra on a commercial laser engraved Teflon (PTFE) film with engraved microarray are investigated. The wettability of film surface modulated by laser engraving make the microarray have the ability to decrease the contact area on film surface while water evaporation. The SEM image of the engraved area points out the micro/nanostructures generated engraving process is crucial to its superhydrophobic property. The probing molecules (i.e., methylene blue and rhodamine6G) were utilized to investigate with the limit of detection (1 × 10^-14 M). Furthermore, the biomolecule (bovine serum albumin) was used to demonstrate its benefits in biological applications. The measured intensities of Raman spectra on this PTFE with laser engraved microarray demonstrate its potential value for a SERS substrate. Our work on this simple, cheap SERS substrate with high sensitivity has a great commercial value and plenty of application in lots of fields.

Geometric frustration in a hexagonal lattice of plasmonic nanoelements

We introduce the concept of geometric frustration in plasmonic arrays of nanoelements. In particular, we present the case of a hexagonal lattice of Au nanoasterisks arranged so that the gaps between neighboring elements are small and lead to a strong near-field dipolar coupling. Besides, far-field interactions yield higher-order collective modes around the visible region that follow the translational symmetry of the lattice. However, dipolar excitations of the gaps in the hexagonal array are geometrically frustrated for interactions beyond nearest neighbors, yielding the destabilization of the low energy modes in the near infrared. This in turn results in a slow dynamics of the optical response and a complex interplay between localized and collective modes, a behavior that shares features with geometrically frustrated magnetic systems.

Radiative Enhancement of Linear and Third-Order Vibrational Excitations by an Array of Infrared Plasmonic Antennas

Infrared gold antennas localize enhanced near fields close to the metal surface, when excited at the frequency of their plasmon resonance, and amplify vibrational signals from the nearby molecules. We study the dependence of the signal enhancement on the thickness of a polymer film containing vibrational chromophores, deposited on the antenna array, using linear (FTIR) and third-order femtosecond vibrational spectroscopy (transient absorption and 2DIR). Our results show that for a film thickness beyond only a few nanometers the near-field interaction is not sufficient to account for the magnitude of the observed signal, which nevertheless has a clear Fano line shape, suggesting a radiative origin of the molecule-plasmon interaction. The mutual radiative damping of plasmonic and molecular transitions leads to the spectroscopic signal of a molecular vibrational excitation to be enhanced by up to a factor of 50 in the case of linear spectroscopy and over 2000 in the case of third-order spectroscopy. A qualitative explanation for the observed effect is given by the extended coupled oscillators model, which takes into account both near-field and radiative interactions between the plasmonic and molecular transitions.

Hybrid Metamaterial Absorber Platform for Sensing of CO2 Gas at Mid-IR

Application of two major classes of CO2 gas sensors, i.e., electrochemical and nondispersive infrared is predominantly impeded by the poor selectivity and large optical interaction length, respectively. Here, a novel "hybrid metamaterial" absorber platform is presented by integrating the state-of-the-art complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor compatible metamaterial with a smart, gas-selective-trapping polymer for highly selective and miniaturized optical sensing of CO2 gas in the 5-8 µm mid-IR spectral window. The sensor offers a minimum of 40 ppm detection limit at ambient temperature on a small footprint (20 µm by 20 µm), fast response time (≈2 min), and low hysteresis. As a proof-of-concept, net absorption enhancement of 0.0282%/ppm and wavelength shift of 0.5319 nm ppm-1 are reported. Furthermore, the gas- selective smart polymer is found to enable dual-mode multiplexed sensing for crosschecking and validation of gas concentration on a single platform. Additionally, unique sensing characteristics as determined by the operating wavelength and bandwidth are demonstrated. Also, large differential response of the metamaterial absorber platform for all-optical monitoring is explored. The results will pave the way for a physical understanding of metamaterial-based sensing when integrated with the mid-IR detector for readout and extending the mid-IR functionalities of selective polymers for the detection of technologically relevant gases.

Force-detected nanoscale absorption spectroscopy in water at room temperature using an optical trap

Measuring absorption spectra of single molecules presents a fundamental challenge for standard transmission-based instruments because of the inherently low signal relative to the large background of the excitation source. Here we demonstrate a new approach for performing absorption spectroscopy in solution using a force measurement to read out optical excitation at the nanoscale. The photoinduced force between model chromophores and an optically trapped gold nanoshell has been measured in water at room temperature. This photoinduced force is characterized as a function of wavelength to yield the force spectrum, which is shown to be correlated to the absorption spectrum for four model systems. The instrument constructed for these measurements combines an optical tweezer with frequency domain absorption spectroscopy over the 400-800 nm range. These measurements provide proof-of-principle experiments for force-detected nanoscale spectroscopies that operate under ambient chemical conditions.

Localized Surface Plasmon Coupling between Mid-IR-Resonant ITO Nanocrystals

Sn-doped indium oxide (ITO) nanocrystals (NC) provide tunable localized surface plasmon resonance in the mid-infrared. To evaluate the applicability of these n-doped plasmonic semiconductors in field-enhanced spectroscopies, it is necessary to assess how the low, free-electron density affects the E-field localization and plasmon coupling in NC films when compared to metal nanoparticles (NP). In this article, we investigate plasmon coupling between approximate 6 nm diameter ITO NC on the collective resonance and quantify the effect of the electromagnetic field enhancement on the absorbance signal of surface-attached ligands in NC films and monolayers with different ratios of doped and undoped indium oxide NC.

High-Contrast Infrared Absorption Spectroscopy via Mass-Produced Coaxial Zero-Mode Resonators with Sub-10 nm Gaps

We present a wafer-scale array of resonant coaxial nanoapertures as a practical platform for surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy (SEIRA). Coaxial nanoapertures with sub-10 nm gaps are fabricated via photolithography, atomic layer deposition of a sacrificial Al₂O₃ layer to define the nanogaps, and planarization via glancing-angle ion milling. At the zeroth-order Fabry-Pérot resonance condition, our coaxial apertures act as a "zero-mode resonator (ZMR)", efficiently funneling as much as 34% of incident infrared (IR) light along 10 nm annular gaps. After removing Al₂O₃ in the gaps and inserting silk protein, we can couple the intense optical fields of the annular nanogap into the vibrational modes of protein molecules. From 7 nm gap ZMR devices coated with a 5 nm thick silk protein film, we observe high-contrast IR absorbance signals drastically suppressing 58% of the transmitted light and infer a strong IR absorption enhancement factor of 10⁴∼10⁵. These single nanometer gap ZMR devices can be mass-produced via batch processing and offer promising routes for broad applications of SEIRA.

Nanocracking and metallization doubly defined large-scale 3D plasmonic sub-10 nm-gap arrays as extremely sensitive SERS substrates

Considering the technological difficulties in the existing approaches to form nanoscale gaps, a convenient method to fabricate three-dimensional (3D) sub-10 nm Ag/SiN_x gap arrays has been demonstrated in this study, controlled by a combination of stress-induced nanocracking of a SiN_x nanobridge and Ag nanofilm deposition. This scalable 3D plasmonic nanogap is specially suspended above a substrate, having a tunable nanogap width and large height-to-width ratio to form a nanocavity underneath. As a surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate, the 3D Ag/SiN_x nanogap shows a large Raman enhancement factor of ∼10⁸ and extremely high sensitivity for the detection of Rhodamine 6G (R6G) molecules, even down to 10^-16 M, indicating an extraordinary capability for single-molecule detection. Further, we verified that the Fabry-Perot resonance occurred in the deep SiN_x nanocavity under the Ag nanogap and contributed prominently to a tremendous enhancement of the local field in the Ag-nanogap zone and hence ultrasensitive SERS detection. This method circumvents the technological limitations to fabricate a sub-10 nm metal nanogap with unique features for wide applications in important scientific and technological areas.

Surface-Enhanced Infrared Absorption: Pushing the Frontier for On-Chip Gas Sensing

Surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) is capable of identifying molecular fingerprints by resonant detection of infrared vibrational modes through the coupling with plasmonic modes of metallic nanostructures. However, SEIRA for on-chip gas sensing is still not very successful due to the intrinsically weak light-matter interaction between photons and gas molecules and the technical challenges in accumulating sufficient gas species in the vicinity of the spatially localized enhanced electric field, namely, the "hot-spots", generated through plasmonics. In this paper, we present a suspended silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) nanomembrane device by integrating plasmonic nanopatch gold antennas with metal-organic framework (MOF), which can largely adsorb carbon dioxide (CO₂) through its nanoporous structure. Unlike conventional SEIRA sensing relying on highly localized hot-spots of plasmonic nanoantennas or nanoparticles, the device reported in this paper engineered the coupled surface plasmon polaritons in the metal-Si₃N₄ and metal-MOF interfaces to achieve strong optical field enhancement across the entire MOF film. We successfully demonstrated on-chip gas sensing of CO₂ with more than 1800× enhancement factors by combining the concentration effect from the 2.7 μm MOF thin film and the optical field enhancement of the plasmonic nanopatch antennas.

Nanoantenna-Microcavity Hybrids with Highly Cooperative Plasmonic-Photonic Coupling

Nanoantennas offer the ultimate spatial control over light by concentrating optical energy well below the diffraction limit, whereas their quality factor (Q) is constrained by large radiative and dissipative losses. Dielectric microcavities, on the other hand, are capable of generating a high Q-factor through an extended photon storage time but have a diffraction-limited optical mode volume. Here we bridge the two worlds, by studying an exemplary hybrid system integrating plasmonic gold nanorods acting as nanoantennas with an on-resonance dielectric photonic crystal (PC) slab acting as a low-loss microcavity and, more importantly, by synergistically combining their advantages to produce a much stronger local field enhancement than that of the separate entities. To achieve this synergy between the two polar opposite types of nanophotonic resonant elements, we show that it is crucial to coordinate both the dissipative loss of the nanoantenna and the Q-factor of the low-loss cavity. In comparison to the antenna-cavity coupling approach using a Fabry-Perot resonator, which has proved successful for resonant amplification of the antenna's local field intensity, we theoretically and experimentally show that coupling to a modest-Q PC guided resonance can produce a greater amplification by at least an order of magnitude. The synergistic nanoantenna-microcavity hybrid strategy opens new opportunities for further enhancing nanoscale light-matter interactions to benefit numerous areas such as nonlinear optics, nanolasers, plasmonic hot carrier technology, and surface-enhanced Raman and infrared absorption spectroscopies.

Electrospun Polymer Nanofibers Decorated with Noble Metal Nanoparticles for Chemical Sensing

The integration of different noble metal nanostructures, which exhibit desirable plasmonic and/or electrocatalytic properties, with electrospun polymer nanofibers, which display unique mechanical and thermodynamic properties, yields novel hybrid nanoscale systems of synergistic properties and functions. This review summarizes recent advances on how to incorporate noble metal nanoparticles into electrospun polymer nanofibers and illustrates how such integration paves the way towards chemical sensing applications with improved sensitivity, stability, flexibility, compatibility, and selectivity. It is expected that further development of this field will eventually make a wide impact on many areas of research.

Surface-enhanced infrared absorption with Si-doped InAsSb/GaSb nano-antennas

We demonstrate surface enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy using 1-dimensional highly doped semiconductors based on Si-doped InAsSb plasmonic nano-antennas. Engineering the plasmonic array to support the localized surface plasmon resonance aligned with the molecular vibrational absorption mode of interest involves finely setting the doping level and nano-antenna width. Heavily doped nano-antennas require a wider size compared to lightly doped resonators. Increasing the doping level, and consequently the width of the nano-antenna, enhances the vibrational absorption of a ~15 nm thick organic layer up to 2 orders of magnitude compared to the unstructured sample and therefore improves sensing. These results pave the way towards molecule fingerprint sensor manufacturing by tailoring the plasmonic resonators to get a maximum surface enhanced infrared absorption at the target vibrational mode.

Plasmonics-Nanofluidics Hydrid Metamaterial: An Ultrasensitive Platform for Infrared Absorption Spectroscopy and Quantitative Measurement of Molecules

One of the most attractive potentials of plasmonic metamaterials is the amplification of intrinsically weak signals such as molecular infrared absorption or Raman scattering for detection applications. This effect, however, is only effective when target molecules are located at the enhanced electromagnetic field of the plasmonic structures (i.e., hot-spots). It is thus of significance to control the spatial overlapping of molecules and hot-spots, yet it is a long-standing challenge, since it involves the handling of molecules in nanoscale spaces. Here a metamaterial consisting of a nanofluidic channel with a depth of several tens of nanometers sandwiched between plasmonic resonators and a metal film enables the controllable delivery of small molecules into the most enhanced field arising from the quadrupole mode of the structures, forming a plasmon-molecular coupled system. It offers an ultrasensitive platform for detection of IR absorption and molecular sensing. Notably, the precise handling of molecules in a fixed and ultrasmall (10-100 nm) gap also addressed some critical issues in IR spectroscopy such as quantitative measurement and measurement in aqueous solution. Moreover, a drastic change in the reflectance characteristic resulting from the strong coupling between molecules and plasmonic structures indicates that molecules can also be utilized as triggers for actively switching the optical property of metamaterials.

Highly improved, non-localized field enhancement enabled by hybrid plasmon of crescent resonator/graphene in infrared wavelength

The development of surface enhanced infrared absorption has been constrained by the limited field enhancement and narrow-band resonance of commonly used metal resonators. In this theoretical work, the design of a crescent resonator (CR) combined with graphene-enabled plasmon tuning is proposed to settle the drawbacks. The CR is similar to a split ring resonator (SRR), but exhibits a much improved field enhancement. The influence of graphene on the field enhancement of the CR has been systematically investigated. Coupling from localized plasmon of CR to propagating plasmon of graphene has been observed, and the constructive interference of the plasmon wave has led to not only better enhancement inside the gap but also usable enhancements all over the graphene film, which go beyond the localized nature of metal plasmons.

Nanogapped Au Antennas for Ultrasensitive Surface-Enhanced Infrared Absorption Spectroscopy

Surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) spectroscopy has outstanding potential in chemical detection as a complement to surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), yet it has historically lagged well behind SERS in detection sensitivity. Here we report a new ultrasensitive infrared antenna designed to bring SEIRA spectroscopy into the few-molecule detection range. Our antenna consists of a bowtie-shaped Au structure with a sub-3 nm gap, positioned to create a cavity above a reflective substrate. This three-dimensional geometry tightly confines incident mid-infrared radiation into its ultrasmall junction, yielding a hot spot with a theoretical SEIRA enhancement factor of more than 10⁷, which can be designed to span the range of frequencies useful for SEIRA. We quantitatively evaluated the IR detection limit of this antenna design using mixed monolayers of 4-nitrothiophenol (4-NTP) and 4-methoxythiolphenol (4-MTP). The optimized antenna structure allows the detection of as few as ∼500 molecules of 4-NTP and ∼600 molecules of 4-MTP with a standard commercial FTIR spectrometer. This strategy offers a new platform for analyzing the IR vibrations of minute quantities of molecules and lends insight into the ultimate limit of single-molecule SEIRA detection.

Plasmonic Vertically Coupled Complementary Antennas for Dual-Mode Infrared Molecule Sensing

Here we report an infrared plasmonic nanosensor for label-free, sensitive, specific, and quantitative identification of nanometer-sized molecules. The device design is based on vertically coupled complementary antennas (VCCAs) with densely patterned hot-spots. The elevated metallic nanobars and complementary nanoslits in the substrate strongly couple at vertical nanogaps between them, resulting in dual-mode sensing dependent on the light polarization parallel or perpendicular to the nanobars. We demonstrate experimentally that a monolayer of octadecanethiol (ODT) molecules (thickness 2.5 nm) leads to significant antenna resonance wavelength shift over 136 nm in the parallel mode, corresponding to 7.5 nm for each carbon atom in the molecular chain or 54 nm for each nanometer in analyte thickness. Additionally, all four characteristic vibrational fingerprint signals, including the weak CH₃ modes, are clearly delineated experimentally in both sensing modes. Such a dual-mode sensing with a broad wavelength design range (2.5 to 4.5 μm) is potentially useful for multianalyte detection. Additionally, we create a mathematical algorithm to design gold nanoparticles on VCCA sensors in simulation with their morphologies statistically identical to those in experiments and systematically investigate the impact of the nanoparticle morphology on the nanosensor performance. The nanoparticles form dense hot-spots, promote molecular adsorption, enhance near-field intensity 10³ to 10⁴ times, and improve ODT refractometric and fingerprint sensitivities. Our VCCA sensor structure offers a great design flexibility, dual-mode operation, and high detection sensitivity, making it feasible for broad applications from biomarker detection to environment monitoring and energy harvesting.

Nanoplasmonic mid-infrared biosensor for in vitro protein secondary structure detection

Plasmonic nanoantennas offer new applications in mid-infrared (mid-IR) absorption spectroscopy with ultrasensitive detection of structural signatures of biomolecules, such as proteins, due to their strong resonant near-fields. The amide I fingerprint of a protein contains conformational information that is greatly important for understanding its function in health and disease. Here, we introduce a non-invasive, label-free mid-IR nanoantenna-array sensor for secondary structure identification of nanometer-thin protein layers in aqueous solution by resolving the content of plasmonically enhanced amide I signatures. We successfully detect random coil to cross β-sheet conformational changes associated with α-synuclein protein aggregation, a detrimental process in many neurodegenerative disorders. Notably, our experimental results demonstrate high conformational sensitivity by differentiating subtle secondary-structural variations in a native β-sheet protein monolayer from those of cross β-sheets, which are characteristic of pathological aggregates. Our nanoplasmonic biosensor is a highly promising and versatile tool for in vitro structural analysis of thin protein layers.

Two-Dimensional Fano Lineshapes in Ultrafast Vibrational Spectroscopy of Thin Molecular Layers on Plasmonic Arrays

Two-dimensional femtosecond infrared (2DIR) spectroscopy routinely provides insights into molecular structure and ultrafast dynamics in 1-100 μm thick bulk samples. Confinement of molecules to surfaces, gaps, crevices, and other topographic features, frequently encountered on the nanometer length scale, significantly alters their structure and dynamics, affecting physical and chemical properties. Amplification of 2DIR signals by the plasmon-enhanced fields around metal nanostructures can permit structural and dynamics measurements of the confined molecules. Fano resonances, induced by the interaction between laser pulses, plasmon, and vibrational modes significantly distort 2D lineshapes. For different detuning from plasmon resonance, the interference between multiple signal components leads to different line shape asymmetry, which we demonstrate on a set of linear absorption, transient absorption, and 2DIR spectra. An intuitive model used to describe experimental data points to the interference's origin. Our results will facilitate the application of surface-enhanced 2DIR spectroscopy for studies of molecular structure and dynamics in a nanoconfined environment.

Surface enhanced infrared absorption of chemisorbed carbon monoxide using plasmonic nanoantennas

We report the enhancement of infrared absorption of chemisorbed carbon monoxide on platinum in the gap of plasmonic nanoantennas. Our method is based on the self-assembled formation of platinum nanoislands on nanoscopic dipole antenna arrays manufactured via electron beam lithography. We employ systematic variations of the plasmonic antenna resonance to precisely couple to the molecular stretch vibration of carbon monoxide adsorbed on the platinum nanoislands. Ultimately, we reach more than 1500-fold infrared absorption enhancements, allowing for an ultrasensitive detection of a monolayer of chemisorbed carbon monoxide. The developed procedure can be adapted to other metal adsorbents and molecular species and could be utilized for coverage sensing in surface catalytic reactions.

Constructive-interference-enhanced Fano resonance of silver plasmonic heptamers with a substrate mirror: a numerical study

Plasmonic nanostructures with strong Fano resonance are of fundamental interest. Here, our systematic simulations show that rational positioning of a silver plasmonic heptamer above a highly reflective substrate mirror can significantly enhance its intrinsic Fano-resonance intensity. The silver nanodisk heptamer positioned at an appropriate distance above the reflective substrate enables 2.4 times field enhancement and 3.6 times deeper Fano-dip respectively compared to the heptamer directly placed on silicon oxide substrate. Besides, our results indicate that the Fano-dip position does not shift when the silver nanodisk heptamer gradually shifts away from the reflective substrate mirror (≥60 nm).

Optomechanics of Single Aluminum Nanodisks

Aluminum nanostructures support tunable surface plasmon resonances and have become an alternative to gold nanoparticles. Whereas gold is the most-studied plasmonic material, aluminum has the advantage of high earth abundance and hence low cost. In addition to understanding the size and shape tunability of the plasmon resonance, the fundamental relaxation processes in aluminum nanostructures after photoexcitation must be understood to take full advantage of applications such as photocatalysis and photodetection. In this work, we investigate the relaxation following ultrafast pulsed excitation and the launching of acoustic vibrations in individual aluminum nanodisks, using single-particle transient extinction spectroscopy. We find that the transient extinction signal can be assigned to a thermal relaxation of the photoexcited electrons and phonons. The ultrafast heating-induced launching of in-plane acoustic vibrations reveals moderate binding to the glass substrate and is affected by the native aluminum oxide layer. Finally, we compare the behavior of aluminum nanodisks to that of similarly prepared and sized gold nanodisks.

Electromagnetic field hugely enhanced by coupling to optical energy focusing structure

In this article, we introduce a new optical energy focusing structure consisting of a circular dielectric Bragg nanocavity and a circular metallic plasmonic lens. Via the hybridization of Bragg cavity modes and surface plasmon modes, optical energy is highly confined in the central region of the Bragg nanocavity under linearly polarized illumination. When either a bowtie nano-antenna (BNA) or a magnetic resonator (MR) is placed on this focusing structure, the energy can be high-efficiently coupled and focused into the BNA or MR. Simulations show that the electric field enhancement (|E|/|E₀|) in the BNA and magnetic field enhancement (|H|/|H₀|) in the MR can be more than 3000 and 200, respectively. This proposed hybrid dielectric-metallic structure opens a new avenue in energy focusing and transferring and provides opportunities for various applications, including single-molecule SERS, optical trapping, photolithography, fluorescent microscopy, magnetic sensors, etc.

Surface-Enhanced Infrared Spectroscopy Using Resonant Nanoantennas

Infrared spectroscopy is a powerful tool widely used in research and industry for a label-free and unambiguous identification of molecular species. Inconveniently, its application to spectroscopic analysis of minute amounts of materials, for example, in sensing applications, is hampered by the low infrared absorption cross-sections. Surface-enhanced infrared spectroscopy using resonant metal nanoantennas, or short "resonant SEIRA", overcomes this limitation. Resonantly excited, such metal nanostructures feature collective oscillations of electrons (plasmons), providing huge electromagnetic fields on the nanometer scale. Infrared vibrations of molecules located in these fields are enhanced by orders of magnitude enabling a spectroscopic characterization with unprecedented sensitivity. In this Review, we introduce the concept of resonant SEIRA and discuss the underlying physics, particularly, the resonant coupling between molecular and antenna excitations as well as the spatial extent of the enhancement and its scaling with frequency. On the basis of these fundamentals, different routes to maximize the SEIRA enhancement are reviewed including the choice of nanostructures geometries, arrangements, and materials. Furthermore, first applications such as the detection of proteins, the monitoring of dynamic processes, and hyperspectral infrared chemical imaging are discussed, demonstrating the sensitivity and broad applicability of resonant SEIRA.

Split-Wedge Antennas with Sub-5 nm Gaps for Plasmonic Nanofocusing

We present a novel plasmonic antenna structure, a split-wedge antenna, created by splitting an ultrasharp metallic wedge with a nanogap perpendicular to its apex. The nanogap can tightly confine gap plasmons and boost the local optical field intensity in and around these opposing metallic wedge tips. This three-dimensional split-wedge antenna integrates the key features of nanogaps and sharp tips, i.e., tight field confinement and three-dimensional nanofocusing, respectively, into a single platform. We fabricate split-wedge antennas with gaps that are as small as 1 nm in width at the wafer scale by combining silicon V-grooves with template stripping and atomic layer lithography. Computer simulations show that the field enhancement and confinement are stronger at the tip-gap interface compared to what standalone tips or nanogaps produce, with electric field amplitude enhancement factors exceeding 50 when near-infrared light is focused on the tip-gap geometry. The resulting nanometric hotspot volume is on the order of λ³/10⁶. Experimentally, Raman enhancement factors exceeding 10⁷ are observed from a 2 nm gap split-wedge antenna, demonstrating its potential for sensing and spectroscopy applications.

Weakening Circular Dichroism of Plasmonic Nanospirals Induced by Surface Grafting with Alkyl Ligands

Silver nanospirals with strong chiroptical activity (characterized by circular dichroism) are grafted with achiral alkyl ligands, resulting in a weakening of the chiroptical activity. The chiroptical weakening is exacerbated with increasing bond energy of the Ag-ligand contacts, which is ascribed to the effective medium screening effect and electron withdrawal toward the alkyl ligands.

Standoff Mechanical Resonance Spectroscopy Based on Infrared-Sensitive Hydrogel Microcantilevers

This paper reports a highly sensitive and selective remote chemical sensing platform for surface-adsorbed trace chemicals by using infrared (IR)-sensitive hydrogel microcantilevers. Poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEG-DA) hydrogel microcantilevers are fabricated by ultraviolet (UV) curing of PEG-DA prepolymer introduced into a poly(dimethylsiloxane) mold. The resonance frequency of a PEG-DA microcantilever exhibits high thermal sensitivity due to IR irradiation/absorption. When a tunable IR laser beam is reflected off a surface coated with target chemical onto a PEG-DA microcantilever, the resonance frequency of the cantilever shifts in proportion to the chemical nature of the target molecules. Dynamic responses of the PEG-DA microcantilever can be obtained in a range of IR wavelengths using a tunable quantum cascade laser that can form the basis for the standoff mechanical resonance spectroscopy (SMRS). Using this SMRS technique, we have selectively detected three compounds, dimethyl methyl phosphonate (DMMP), cyclotrimethylene trinitramine (RDX), and pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), located 4 m away from the PEG-DA microcantilever detector. The experimentally measured limit of detection for PETN trace using the PEG-DA microcantilever was 40 ng/cm². Overall, the PEG-DA microcantilever is a promising candidate for further exploration and optimization of standoff detection methods.

Reversible optical switching of highly confined phonon-polaritons with an ultrathin phase-change material

Surface phonon-polaritons (SPhPs), collective excitations of photons coupled with phonons in polar crystals, enable strong light-matter interaction and numerous infrared nanophotonic applications. However, as the lattice vibrations are determined by the crystal structure, the dynamical control of SPhPs remains challenging. Here, we realize the all-optical, non-volatile, and reversible switching of SPhPs by controlling the structural phase of a phase-change material (PCM) employed as a switchable dielectric environment. We experimentally demonstrate optical switching of an ultrathin PCM film (down to 7 nm, <λ/1,200) with single laser pulses and detect ultra-confined SPhPs (polariton wavevector kp > 70k0, k0 = 2π/λ) in quartz. Our proof of concept allows the preparation of all-dielectric, rewritable SPhP resonators without the need for complex fabrication methods. With optimized materials and parallelized optical addressing we foresee application potential for switchable infrared nanophotonic elements, for example, imaging elements such as superlenses and hyperlenses, as well as reconfigurable metasurfaces and sensors.

Far-field nanoscale infrared spectroscopy of vibrational fingerprints of molecules with graphene plasmons

Infrared spectroscopy, especially for molecular vibrations in the fingerprint region between 600 and 1,500 cm⁻¹, is a powerful characterization method for bulk materials. However, molecular fingerprinting at the nanoscale level still remains a significant challenge, due to weak light–matter interaction between micron-wavelengthed infrared light and nano-sized molecules. Here we demonstrate molecular fingerprinting at the nanoscale level using our specially designed graphene plasmonic structure on CaF₂ nanofilm. This structure not only avoids the plasmon–phonon hybridization, but also provides in situ electrically-tunable graphene plasmon covering the entire molecular fingerprint region, which was previously unattainable. In addition, undisturbed and highly confined graphene plasmon offers simultaneous detection of in-plane and out-of-plane vibrational modes with ultrahigh detection sensitivity down to the sub-monolayer level, significantly pushing the current detection limit of far-field mid-infrared spectroscopies. Our results provide a platform, fulfilling the long-awaited expectation of high sensitivity and selectivity far-field fingerprint detection of nano-scale molecules for numerous applications.

Despite being a powerful tool for molecular vibrational mode detection, infrared spectrosocpy is limited by weak sensitivity. Here, the authors demonstrate a platform for enhanced molecular fingerprint sensing based on a graphene/CaF₂ nanofilm plasmonic structure.

Optical Activation of Germanium Plasmonic Antennas in the Mid-Infrared

Impulsive interband excitation with femtosecond near-infrared pulses establishes a plasma response in intrinsic germanium structures fabricated on a silicon substrate. This direct approach activates the plasmonic resonance of the Ge structures and enables their use as optical antennas up to the mid-infrared spectral range. The optical switching lasts for hundreds of picoseconds until charge recombination redshifts the plasma frequency. The full behavior of the structures is modeled by the electrodynamic response established by an electron-hole plasma in a regular array of antennas.

Simultaneous Chemical and Refractive Index Sensing in the 1-2.5 μm Near-Infrared Wavelength Range on Nanoporous Gold Disks

Near-infrared (NIR) absorption spectroscopy provides molecular and chemical information based on overtones and combination bands of the fundamental vibrational modes in the infrared wavelengths. However, the sensitivity of NIR absorption measurement is limited by the generally weak absorption and the relatively poor detector performance compared to other wavelength ranges. To overcome these barriers, we have developed a novel technique to simultaneously obtain chemical and refractive index sensing in 1-2.5 μm NIR wavelength range on nanoporous gold (NPG) disks, which feature high-density plasmonic hot-spots of localized electric field enhancement. For the first time, surface-enhanced near-infrared absorption (SENIRA) spectroscopy has been demonstrated for high sensitivity chemical detection. With a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of octadecanethiol (ODT), an enhancement factor (EF) of up to ∼10(4) has been demonstrated for the first C-H combination band at 2400 nm using NPG disk with 600 nm diameter. Together with localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) extinction spectroscopy, simultaneous sensing of sample refractive index has been achieved for the first time. The performance of this technique has been evaluated using various hydrocarbon compounds and crude oil samples.