Plasmonic Nanopores as Tunable Optical Platforms for Single-Molecule Detection

Abstract

Tunable plasmonic nanostructures are of the utmost importance in sensing applications due to their ability to precisely manipulate and control light–matter interactions at the nanoscale. The easy control of geometrical features enables the optimization of their optical properties, such as the resonance frequency, intensity, and spectral width, to match the specific requirements of the sensing system. Enhanced sensing performances are thus achieved in terms of the sensitivity and selectivity towards target analytes, leading to improved detection limits and accuracy. Additionally, tunable plasmonic nanostructures offer the flexibility to adapt to different sensing conditions and analytes, making them versatile platforms for a wide range of sensing applications. In this work, a low-cost and optimized fabrication protocol was developed to realize highly ordered nanopores in thin gold films with tunable plasmonic features. Performances of the realized nanostructures were tested by different metal-enhanced spectroscopies, in particular Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopies.

Keywords

• plasmonics
• nanopores
• metal nanostructures arrays
• surface-enhanced spectroscopies
• nanosphere lithography