Ultra-Broadband Plasmon-Polariton Crystals for Label-Free Single Molecule Detection

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).0932611Mohseni This NSF award by the Biosensing /CBET program supports work by Professor Hooman Mohseni at Northwestern University to study a novel nano-structure called "Plasmon-Polariton Crystal" and to explore the possibility of detecting single molecules without attaching chemical labels to them. The main goal of this research is to explore the unique properties of the Plasmon-Polariton Crystal and achieve a very large optical bandwidth, exceeding several Tera Hertz, as well as a very large Purcel's constant. Unlike the existing photonic resonators and cavities that rely on a very large quality factor to achieve a high sensitivity, the proposed Plasmon Polariton Crystal has a small quality factor that leads to a very large bandwidth and the possibility of spectral fingerprint sensing.Specifically, PI plans to use detailed three-dimensional electromagnetic simulations to optimize the proposed structure for a practical realization using conventional dielectric and metal layers. PI also plans to fabricate such structures using advanced micro and nano-processing tools. Finally, the most important optical properties leading to an understanding of the device bandwidth and Purcell constant will be measured.Proposed research advances the physics of rapidly growing plasmonic devices. With a sensing volume in the Zepto-litter range, and a very large cavity coupling over large bandwidth, the proposed nano-structure could impact a wide range of fields such as single-molecule detection, cavity quantum electrodynamics, and quantum dot single-photon sources.