Materials development for mid-infrared plasmonic applications

有了这个奖项，化学部的化学测量和成像计划正在资助北卡罗来纳州州立大学的Stefan Franzen和Jon-Paul Maria教授，以探索中红外（IR）光谱中的等离子体振荡如何与分子振动相互作用，以增强红外表征科学。为了实现这一目标，该团队将极端迁移率的导电金属氧化物应用到支持表面等离子体共振现象的薄膜平台中，并确定如何将其功能化以实现特定的化学附着。这项工作的更广泛影响包括远远超出本项目的科学影响，例如（i）开发新方法，通过模式混合IR等离子体和IR吸收带来增强传感，以及（ii）将IR表面等离子体共振光谱与荧光合并，以监测单层尺度的表面反应。 通过在跨学科的合作研究环境中为研究生提供培训基地，实现更广泛的教育影响。该项目融合了化学和材料科学的互补能力，可以实现新的化学传感能力。例如，这个合作研究团队的成员试图使用新的SAM化学将光敏寡核苷酸连接到CdO：Dy薄膜上，并使用荧光和中红外等离子体检测同时监测结合。因此，使用诸如淬灭荧光事件的金纳米颗粒的常规等离子体材料通常没有看到这样的策略。该团队还在探索除CdO以外的新的等离子体氧化物，这些氧化物具有很好的流动性和表面化学性质。实验包括薄膜制备的分子束外延和溅射，薄膜表征衍射，红外椭圆偏振，和电子输运。这些层的表面功能化利用基于化学附着的方法，具有和不具有通过原子层沉积制备的超薄界面层。

With this award, the Chemical Measurement and Imaging program of the Division of Chemistry is funding Professors Stefan Franzen and Jon-Paul Maria of the North Carolina State University to explore how plasmon oscillations in the mid-infrared (IR) spectrum can interact with molecular vibrations to enhance the infrared characterization science. To accomplish this goal, the team implements extreme-mobility conductive metal oxides into thin film platforms that support surface plasmon resonance phenomena, and determines how to functionalize them for specific chemical attachments. Broader impacts of this work include scientific impacts well beyond this project, such as (i)the development of new methods to enhance sensing by mode mixing an IR plasmon and an IR absorption band, and (ii) merging IR surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy with fluorescence to monitor surface reactions at the monolayer scale. Educational broader impacts are to be achieved by providing a training ground for graduate students in an interdisciplinary, collaborative research environment.This project merges complementary capabilities in Chemistry and Materials Science that may enable new chemical sensing capabilities. For example, the members of this collaborative research team seek to attach photoactive oligonucleotides to CdO:Dy films using new SAM chemistries and monitor binding simultaneously using fluorescence and mid-IR plasmonic detection. Heretofore, such strategies have generally not been seen using conventional plasmonic materials such as gold nanoparticles that quench fluorescence events. The team is also exploring new plasmonic oxides other than CdO with promising mobility and surface chemistry properties. The experiments include thin film preparation by molecular beam epitaxy and sputtering, film characterization by diffraction, infrared-ellipsometry, and electronic transport. Surface functionalization of these layers utilizes approaches based on chemical attachment with and without ultra-thin interface layers prepared by atomic layer deposition.