Spectroscopy and imaging at the nanoscale

尽管在过去的十年中，生物传感器、柔性太阳能电池、药物输送载体或计算机中的比特元件等纳米材料的应用取得了快速发展，但纳米科学的潜力尚未得到充分发挥。在这种情况下，使用光学光谱学和先进的显微技术对这些纳米物体或功能化表面进行表征，提供的信息远远超过纯成像技术所提供的信息，因为它允许这些材料的分子性质与其分子结构、大小和组成相关联。研究空间分辨率远低于1微米的纳米材料对于更好地理解它们的光学-机械-电学性质及其相互作用和对外界刺激或扰动的响应具有重要意义。同样，探索生物系统中的生物过程和化学交换也很重要。生化交换的更好的空间分辨率或时间分辨率将导致对生物过程的基本原理的更准确的理解。我们的计划重点是利用扫描探针显微镜和各种光学显微镜技术(拉曼、荧光和和频产生)相结合，在纳米和微米尺度上组织材料和生物材料的研究。这套互补的方法将被用来(I)确定半导体纳米线和石墨烯层中的限制效应，(Ii)结合等离子体平台开发超灵敏的振动测量来检测低浓度分子体系，(Iii)评估组织在修饰表面上的细胞之间的化学交换，以及(Iv)动态测量分子受体在各种刺激下的构象变化。

Although the past decade has seen rapid developments in the application of nanosized materials such as biological sensors, flexible solar cells, drug delivery carriers, or bit elements in computers, the potential of nanoscience has yet to be fulfilled. In this context, the characterization of these nano-objects or functionalized surfaces using optical spectroscopy combined with advanced microscopy techniques offers information far beyond that provided by pure imaging techniques, as it allows the molecular properties of these materials to be correlated with their molecular structures, sizes and compositions. The possibility to investigate nanomaterials at spatial resolutions well below 1 micron is of great significance for a better understanding of their optical-mechanical-electrical properties, and their interactions and responses to external stimuli or perturbations. Similarly, it is important to probe biological processes and chemical exchanges in biological systems. A better spatial resolution or time resolution of the biochemical exchanges would lead to a more precise understanding of the fundamentals of biological processes. Our program focuses on the study of materials and biomaterials organized at the nano- and microscale using a combination of scanning probe microscopy, together with a variety of optical microscopy techniques (Raman, Fluorescence and Sum Frequency generation). Such an ensemble of complementary methods will be used to (i) determine the confinement effects in semi-conductor nanowires and graphene layers, (ii) develop ultrasensitive vibrational measurements in conjunction with plasmonic platforms for the detection of low concentration molecular systems, (iii) evaluate chemical exchanges between cells organized on modified surfaces, and (iv) dynamically measure the change in conformation of molecular receptors under various stimuli.