Photonics (Jul 2015)

Effects of Irregular Bimetallic Nanostructures on the Optical Properties of Photosystem I from Thermosynechococcus elongatus

  • Imran Ashraf,
  • Sepideh Skandary,
  • Mohammad Y. Khaywah,
  • Michael Metzger,
  • Alfred J. Meixner,
  • Pierre M. Adam,
  • Marc Brecht

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics2030838
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 2, no. 3
pp. 838 – 854

Abstract

Read online

The fluorescence of photosystem I (PSI) trimers in proximity to bimetallic plasmonic nanostructures have been explored by single-molecule spectroscopy (SMS) at cryogenic temperature (1.6 K). PSI serves as a model for biological multichromophore-coupled systems with high potential for biotechnological applications. Plasmonic nanostructures are fabricated by thermal annealing of thin metallic films. The fluorescence of PSI has been intensified due to the coupling with plasmonic nanostructures. Enhancement factors up to 22.9 and 5.1 are observed for individual PSI complexes coupled to Au/Au and Ag/Au samples, respectively. Additionally, a wavelength dependence of fluorescence enhancement is observed, which can be explained by the multichromophoric composition of PSI.

Keywords