NIRT: Plasmonic Nanostructured Devices for Chemical and Biological Sensing

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This NIRT proposal focuses on investigating the fundamentals of plasmon phenomena in nanoscale metallic structures and exploring the use of plasmonic chip technologies in bio-chemical sensing. Metallic nanoaperture arrays will be investigated as a base structure to provide wavelength-dependent transmission of light with strong confinement (with lateral dimension much smaller than wavelength of light). We will chemically modify the nanoaperture surface with receptors for chemical and biological analytes. Analyte adsorption is expected to alter the local dielectric properties at metal surface and thus the optical transmission via a change in the near-field coupling in the aperture region. We propose mechanisms for analyte detection that exploit both the dispersive part of the analytes optical response and its absorptive (loss) part. Intellectual merit: This NIRT program aims at developing a quantitative understanding of the plasmonic phenomena occurring in chemically-modified metallic nanoaperture structures. This program also addresses scientific and engineering challenges in developing plasmonic chip technologies for biochemical sensing. Broader impacts: This program is expected to lead to the development of an unprecedented (high-throughput and ultracompact) sensor technology, and will make major contributions to various fields that involve monitoring/detecting biochemical agents, such as health care, environment and homeland security. This program stimulates interactions among a highly multidisciplinary team of experts from Electrical Engineering, Chemistry and Physics, and will provide an educational paradigm for training future scientists and engineers for the emerging field of nanophotonics and plasmonics. In this NIRT program, the education and outreach will be integrated with research through various activities.