DNA Origami-assembled Directional Emitting Nanoantennas

定向等离子体纳米天线已被广泛应用于传感、光谱学、定向光子源和光学纳米电路中的无线通信等领域。为了获得理想的方向性，必须精确控制纳米天线元件的形态和空间排列，并精确连接光频量子发射器以提供局部驱动电源。因此，必须开发一种确定性的、精确的、方便的、经济的制造方法来有效地批量生产定义良好的定向纳米天线。到目前为止，定向纳米天线大多是通过昂贵的自上而下的方法制造的，这通常是耗时的，不可扩展的，并且需要最先进的纳米制造设备。DNA折纸法已发展成为一种灵活、可设计、具有确定性的分子级等离子体纳米粒子排列方法。这些特点使DNA折纸成为制造定向光学纳米天线的一种有吸引力的方法。提出的研究目标是利用DNA折纸技术将等离子体纳米粒子和荧光分子精确组装成预定的定向发射纳米天线作为定向光子源。将完成两个研究目标。第一个目标是建立稳定的大规模生产定义良好的DNA折纸组装定向纳米天线的制造路线。第二个目标是结合荧光分子驱动DNA折纸组装的定向纳米天线，并研究其发射方向的发射光子静态。如果成功，这项研究将克服目前定向纳米天线制造的局限性，并提供明亮的定向光子源。在这个项目中获得的知识和发展的技术也将为下一个资助期的生物传感研究奠定基础，这些生物传感使用DNA折纸组装纳米天线，无线光学纳米电路和量子光学定向单光子源。DNA折纸组装的定向纳米天线也可能导致新的显示技术。

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.