DNA Origami-assembled Directional Emitting Nanoantennas

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Directional plasmonic nanoantennas have been used in various areas from sensing, spectroscopy, to directional photon sources and wireless communication in optical nanocircuits. To obtain desired directionality, the morphology and spatial arrangement of nanosized antenna elements must be precisely controlled and optical-frequency quantum emitters need to be accurately attached to provide local driving power. Therefore, a deterministic, precise, yet convenient and cost-effective fabrication method must be developed to effectively mass produce well-defined directional nanoantennas. So far, directional nanoantennas are mostly fabricated by expensive top-down approaches, which are typically time-consuming, non-scalable and require state-of-the-art nanofabrication facilities. DNA origami method has been developed into a flexible, designable and deterministic method for arranging plasmonic nanoparticles with molecular level precision. These features make DNA origami an attractive method for the fabrication of directional optical nanoantennas.The goal of the proposed research is to use DNA origami technology to precisely assemble plasmonic nanoparticles and fluorescent molecules into pre-defined directional emitting nanoantennas as directional photon sources. Two research objectives will be accomplished. The first objective is to establish the fabrication route for stable mass production of well-defined DNA origami-assembled directional nanoantennas. The second objective is to incorporate fluorescent molecules to drive the DNA origami-assembled directional nanoantennas and study their emission photon statics with respect to emission directional. If successful, this research will overcome the current limitations of the fabrication of directional nanoantennas and provide bright directional photon sources. The knowledge gained and technology developed in this project will also form the base for the research in the next funding period for biosensing using DNA origami-assembled nanoantennas, wireless in optical nanocircuits and directional single-photon source for quantum optics. The DNA origami-assembled directional nanoantennas may also lead to new display technology.