QTPlasmonics - Next generation of plasmonic integrated label free biosensing including optical, electrical and thermal active controls and readouts

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Biosensors are becoming more and more important as the demand on health related issues requires the monitoring of more and more parameters. Within these, plasmonic biochip systems are becoming increasingly popular thanks to their ability to monitor in parallel hundreds of surface bio-interactions without the need of a labelling step and in real time allowing accessing the kinetics of these interactions. Since plasmonic systems are highly sensitive to a number of environmental parameters, conventional plasmonic biosensors have sought to keep these physical parameters constant as any variations lead to unwanted changes in the signal measured from the biomolecular reaction under test. Recent progress in micro- and nano-structuring of metal-dielectric interfaces has opened the way to localized control of physical parameters at very fine space and time scales. As a result, rather than maintain constant environmental conditions, one can instead envision locally controlling environmental conditions to enhance the plasmonic sensor response. The goal of this proposal is to advance the field of plasmonics by studying the effect of controlled local electrical and thermal spatial variations at the submicron scale in so-called “nanoplasmonic” systems. Recently, important advances have been made in both modeling of complex plasmonic structures and their fabrication. My research program over the next five years aims at capitalizing on these advances by developing novel multi-parameter systems capable of both enhancing the capabilities of current technologies and furthermore of accessing supplementary information about the bio-targets under investigation. Applications will include not only sensors addressing markers and biohazards at very low or trace concentration but also experimental characterization of their kinetics with special attention extending to enzymes and cells This new knowledge will lead both to better understanding and control of multi-physics plasmonic components as well as to the development of next-generation biochip sensors designed to address some of the most pressing needs in critical care, personalized medicine and drug discovery.