Nanofluidics device embedded with metamaterials: ultra-sensitive platform for IR absorption spectroscopy

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15H06856
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Nano/Microsystems
• Research Institution: Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
• Principal Investigator: Le ThuHacHuong 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 光量子工学研究領域, 国際特別研究員 (60752144)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-08-28 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 赤外分光 / マイクロ・ナノ流体デバイス / メタマテリアル / ラベルフリー検出

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study reports a nanofluidic device embedded with metamaterials for ultra-sensitive infrared (IR) absorption detection. Plasmonic nanostructures were intensively studied to improve the sensitivity of IR spectroscopy, yet positioning analytes at the hot-spot is a challenging issue. Here we proposed and fabricated a nanofluidic device consists of a metal (Au) square-disks array on the top wall of channel, and a metal mirror on the bottom. The nanochannel with several tens of nms in depth plays the role of dielectric spacer layer, in which the photons are accumulated and the electromagnetic field is significantly enhanced. When the analyte whose IR absorption is spectrally overlapped with this mode is introduced, its strong coupling with this plasmon mode induces a significant amplification in molecular absorption signal. This device offered an improvement of sensitivity by two orders of magnitude compared to state-of-the-art metamaterials induced IR spectroscopies.

Free Research Field

分析化学、光機能材料