AVS 53rd International Symposium
    Biomaterial Interfaces Thursday Sessions
       Session BI-ThM

Paper BI-ThM6
Nano-Crescents as Tunable Plasmon-Based Sensing Platforms

Thursday, November 16, 2006, 9:40 am, Room 2014

Session: Plasmonic Methods and Sub-micron Structures for Biology and Medicine
Presenter: J.S. Shumaker-Parry, University of Utah
Authors: R. Bukasov, University of Utah
M. Hukill, University of Utah
J.S. Shumaker-Parry, University of Utah
Correspondent: Click to Email
Crescent-shaped gold nanostructures exhibit localized plasmon resonances that are tunable from the visible to the infrared. A combination of polymer nanosphere templating, metal film deposition and ion beam etching produces a large number of crescents with defined and uniform size, shape, and orientation on a substrate. Ensemble measurements show the crescents exhibit multipolar plasmon resonances that are tuned from 600 to 2800 nm by controlling the crescents' structural properties. In addition to the template size, the diameter to thickness aspect ratio and the distance between the crescent tips also influence the crescents' optical properties. The crescents' plasmon resonances exhibit a strong dependence on the local dielectric environment, with sensitivity factors of up to 800 nm/refractive index unit, depending on the crescent size and the plasmon resonance wavelength. The high sensitivity, the tunability of the crescents' optical properties over a wide wavelength range, and the bare crescent surface readily available for functionalization with receptor molecules make the crescents strong candidates for development as sensors.