Multi-functional Nanowire Evanescent Wave Optical Sensors
Controlling the flow of photons through a fluidic media withsubwavelength optics is a major step towards the development of on-chipphotonic sensors. Central to this idea will be designing amulti-functional nanomaterial that can efficiently trap, route anddeliver light to various sensing channels, filters and detectors on aphotonic chip. Semiconductor nanowire waveguides offer an exceptionalsolution to the confinement of optical energy in solution and can bedirectly integrated into microfluidic devices. Here we demonstrate anovel optical sensing platform that utilizes the evanescent field of atin dioxide single crystalline waveguide to perform a wide array ofspectroscopic analyses including absorption, fluorescence and surfaceenhanced Raman on sub-picoliter probe volumes. Since the same waveguidecavity can transmit both broadband and monochromatic light it allowsmultiple modes of detection to be carried out on the same analyte. Tomove beyond less chemical specific optical techniques such as absorptionand fluorescence we exploit the amplified electric field around silvernanocubes to enhance the vibronic signatures of molecules present in theevanescent field. With excellent chemical resilience to strong acidicconditions, the waveguides can be completely cleaned from the attachedmetal nanoparticles making the devices fully reusable. These results openup the possibility of engineering self-contained, multiplexed photonicsensors that detect and identify chemical species in complex biologicaland environmental systems.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Director. Office of Science. Office of AdvancedScientific Computing Research. Office of Basic EnergySciences
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 901524
- Report Number(s):
- LBNL-61799; R&D Project: 513801; BnR: KC0201030; TRN: US200714%%83
- Journal Information:
- Advanced Materials, Vol. 99, Issue 1; Related Information: Journal Publication Date: 12/05/2006
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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