NIRT: Plasmonic Nanostructured Devices for Chemical and Biological Sensing

该NIRT提案的重点是研究纳米金属结构中等离子体现象的基本原理，并探索等离子体芯片技术在生物化学传感中的应用。 金属纳米孔阵列将作为基础结构进行研究，以提供具有强限制（横向尺寸远小于光的波长）的光的波长依赖性传输。 我们将用化学和生物分析物的受体对纳米孔表面进行化学修饰。 分析物的吸附预计会改变局部的介电性能在金属表面，从而通过在孔径区域的近场耦合的变化的光传输。我们提出的分析物检测机制，利用分析物的光学响应和其吸收（损失）部分的色散部分。智力优点：该NIRT计划旨在对化学改性金属纳米孔结构中发生的等离子体现象进行定量理解。 该计划还解决了开发用于生化传感的等离子体芯片技术的科学和工程挑战。更广泛的影响：该计划预计将导致前所未有的（高通量和超紧凑）传感器技术的发展，并将为涉及监测/检测生化试剂的各个领域做出重大贡献，如医疗保健，环境和国土安全。该计划刺激了来自电气工程，化学和物理学的高度多学科专家团队之间的互动，并将为培训未来的科学家和工程师提供一个教育范例，用于新兴的纳米光子学和等离子体。 在这个NIRT计划中，教育和推广将通过各种活动与研究相结合。

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.