Improved sensitivity of wavelength-modulated surface plasmon resonance biosensor using gold nanorods

In this report, gold nanorods (GNRs) were used to enhance the sensitivity of the wavelength-modulated surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor. The GNRs were designed and fabricated through seed-medicated growth and surface activation by a layer of a weak polyelectrolyte, poly(acrylic acid) for the attaching antibody. Rabbit anti-goat IgG was immobilized on GNRs, and sandwich assays were carried out to detect goat IgG using a wavelength-modulated SPR biosensor. The detection sensitivity of the nanorod-conjugated antibody is 25-100 times more sensitive than the SPR biosensor without GNRs. Drastic sensitivity enhancement, owing to the electromagnetic interaction between the nanotag and the sensing film, was maximized using the longitudinal plasmonic resonance of the GNRs. GNRs could significantly enhance the sensitivity of the SPR biosensor, and the maximum enhancement effect can be achieved when the longitudinal SPR peak wavelength of GNRs functionally matches the surface plasmon wavelength.     

Optical properties of the gold nanorods tuned by lead sulfide

In this paper, the optical properties of gold nanorods (GNRs) tuned by lead sulfide (PbS) were studied. GNRs used in this work were synthesized by seed-mediated methods. Using electrostatic self-assembly methods, GNRs were modified by repetition of adsorbing oppositely charged polyelectrolyte. Then GNR-PbS nanostructure was fabricated by alternatively adsorbing Pb(2+) and S(2-) ions on the surface of polyelectrolyte-modified-GNRs. The formation of PbS nanocrystals on GNRs can effectively regulate their optical properties, including longitudinal surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) and fluorescence.     

Nonlinear refraction and saturable absorption in Au:BaTiO3 composite films

Composite thin films Au:BaTiO3, comprising nanometer-sized gold particles embedded in barium titanate matrices, were synthesized on MgO (100) substrates with the pulsed laser deposition technique. The nanostructure of the films and the size distributions of the Au particles were analyzed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Crystal lattice fringes from the Au nanocrystals and the BaTiO3 matrices were observed. The nonlinear optical properties of the Au:BaTiO3 films were measured with the z-scan method at a wavelength of 532 nm, which was closed to the surface plasmon resonance of nanoscale Au particles. The features of the closed-aperture z-scan transmittance curves were affected by the ratio, which increased greatly at a high metal concentration, of the imaginary part to the real part of the third-order nonlinear susceptibility chi(3).     

Acousto-optical Transducer with Surface Plasmons

The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is a sensitive technique for the detection of changes in dielectric parameters in close proximity to a metal film supporting surface plasmon waves. Here we study the application of the SPR effect to an efficient conversion of an acoustic signal into an optical one. Such a transducer potentially has a large bandwidth and good sensitivity. When an acoustic wave is incident onto a receiving plate positioned within the penetration depth of the surface plasmons, it creates displacements of the surface of the plate and, thus, modulates the dielectric properties in the proximity of the gold film. This modulation, in turn, modifies the light reflection under surface plasmon resonance conditions. We simulate characteristics of this acousto-optical transducer with surface plasmons and provide sets of parameters at the optical wavelength of 800 nm and 633 nm for its realization.     

The inherent optical nonlinearities of thin silver films

Thin Ag films with the thickness of 80 Å were prepared by pulsed laser deposition technique. The films were grown on MgO(1 0 0) substrates under the nitrogen pressure of 5.0 Pa at room temperature. The surface images of the films were observed by atomic force microscopy. The linear optical properties of the films were studied in the wavelength range of 300–800 nm. The inherent third-order nonlinear optical responses coming from the silver material itself were determined by z-scan method at the wavelength of 532 nm with laser duration of 10 ns. The significant optical nonlinearities of the pure thin Ag films were determined to have the real and imaginary parts of the third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility (χ⁽³⁾) as 2.49 × 10⁻⁸ and 7.16 × 10⁻⁹ esu, respectively. The obtained χ⁽³⁾ value of Ag films was about one order of magnitude larger than that of Ag colloids.     

Fabrication of rice-like gold nanoparticles and application in surface-enhanced Raman scattering

A simple method for the synthesis of rice-like gold nanoparticles using gold nanorods (GNRs) as precursors in the aqueous phase was exploited. The method used in this work involves eroding GNRs with potassium ferricyanide in the aqueous phase. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) bands of the resulting nanoparticles present a notable blue-shift from 670 to 570 nm with increasing amounts of potassium ferricyanide, and subsequently the shape of the resulting nanoparticles can be readily controlled. Most importantly, the SPR response is an almost linear function of the quantity of potassium ferricyanide added. The synthesis of the resulting nanoparticles with various aspect ratios has been extensively studied and is well established. The surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) intensity enhancement of the adsorbate on the surface of these gold nanoparticles was also studied.     

二氧化钛薄膜的三阶非线性光学特性

采用脉冲激光沉积技术在熔石英基片上制备了c轴取向的锐钛矿相TiO₂薄膜.通过X射线衍射和原子力显微镜对薄膜的结构、结晶性和表面特性进行了表征.通过透射光谱计算得到TiO₂薄膜折射率约为2.1,光学带隙约为3.18eV.结合飞秒激光和Z扫描方法测量了薄膜的超快非线性光学特性,结果表明：锐钛矿TiO₂薄膜具有负的非线性吸收系数和负的非线性折射率,其大小分别为-6.2×10^-11m/W和-6.32×10^-17m²/W,对应的三阶非线性极化率的实部和虚部分别为-7.1×10^-11esu和-4.42×10^-12esu.并计算薄膜的优值比T=βλ/n₂≈0.8,表明锐钛矿相的TiO₂在非线性光学器件方面具有潜在的应用前景.     

Nonlinear optical responses of erbium-doped YAG ceramics

By performing the Z-scan measurements with ultrafast femtosecond laser centered at 800 nm wavelength, we can unambiguously distinguish the real and imaginary part of the third-order optical nonlinearity of the erbium-doped YAG ceramics. The reverse saturable absorption of the erbium-doped YAG ceramics has been observed experimentally, and the nonlinear refractive index of the ceramics is estimated to be about 10⁻²¹ m²/W. The experimental results may provide design guidelines for the high power laser design and its applications.     

Nonlinear plasmonics at planar metal surfaces

We investigate the nonlinear optical response of a noble metal surface. We derive the components of the third-order nonlinear susceptibility and determine an absolute value of χ((3))≈0.2 nm(2) V(-2), a value that is more than two orders of magnitude larger than the values found for typical nonlinear laser crystals. Using nonlinear four-wave mixing (4WM) with incident laser pulses of frequencies ω(1) and ω(2), we generate fields oscillating at the nonlinear frequency ω(4WM)=2ω(1)-ω(2). We identify and discuss three distinct regimes: (i) a regime where the 4WM field is propagating, (ii) a regime where it is evanescent, and (iii) a regime where the nonlinear response couples to surface plasmon polaritons.     

Highly efficient polyethylene glycol‐functionalised gold nanorods for photothermal ablation of hepatocellular carcinoma cells

Gold nanorods (GNRs) with exceptional photothermal properties have held promising potential for application in the biomedical field. In this study, the authors achieved photothermal ablation by polyethylene glycol (PEG)‐functionalised GNRs. Well‐dispersed and uniform GNRs were produced through a seed‐mediated growth method. A thermal camera was used to scrutinise the temperature distribution and efficiency of the photothermal properties of the GNRs, which were irradiated by an 808 nm laser on a silicon chip. They observed that the GNRs provided about a 5°C temperature increase and produced hyperthermia efficiently. Since GNRs need to be surface tailored with a biocompatible material rather than cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), they chose methoxyl PEG thiol to modify the GNRs. By taking advantage of the alkaline environment that assists this functionalisation, they accomplished about 89% removal of CTAB and identified a PEG layer on the surface of the GNRs. The GNR biocompatibility was considerably improved without any shift of the optical properties. Hepatocellular carcinoma cells were incubated with GNRs for 24 h and then were irradiated with a near‐infrared laser for 3 min. Few cells remained alive, which demonstrated the photothermal ablation ability of the GNRs.Inspec keywords: cancer, nanofabrication, biomedical materials, nanorods, gold, nanoparticles, nanomedicine, cellular biophysics, hyperthermia, photothermal effects, photodynamic therapy, laser applications in medicine, infrared imaging, biomedical optical imaging, filled polymersOther keywords: highly efficient polyethylene glycol‐functionalised gold nanorods, hepatocellular carcinoma cells, temperature distribution, photothermal ablation ability, well‐dispersed gold nanorods, seed‐mediated growth method, thermal camera, laser on a silicon chip, near‐infrared laser, wavelength 808.0 nm, time 24.0 hour, time 3.0 min, temperature 5.0 degC, Au     

Ellipsoidal core-shell dielectric-gold nanostructure: theoretical study of the tunable surface plasmon resonance

The dependence of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) characters of core-shell structure ellipsoidal nanorods was investigated as functions of the gold shell width and dielectric constant. A dipole-limit calculation indicated that, there are four SPR absorption peaks occur. The two shorter wavelength peaks are attributed to the transverse resonances, whereas the two longer wavelength peaks are attributed to the longitudinal resonances. Both transverse and longitudinal resonances are split into inner surface and outer surface modes, respectively. When the core size is a fixed value, the two transverse surface plasmon peaks red shift as the gold shell width is increased. On the other hand, both the inner and outer surface modes attributed to the longitudinal surface plasmon peaks blue shifts distinctly and nonlinearly. Further more, both the inner and outer surface plasmon modes are also dependent on the embedding medium and core dielectric constant. The longitudinal SPR from inner surface is more sensitive to the core dielectric constant, whereas the longitudinal SPR from outer surface is more sensitive to the surrounding medium.     

Gold nanorods with finely tunable longitudinal surface plasmon resonance as SERS substrates

Advances in nanophotonics have shown the potential of colloidal metal nanoparticles with sharp tips, such as rods, to focalize plasmonic electromagnetic fields. We report on the synthesis of Au nanorods via a seed mediated approach and the influence of silver ions on the aspect ratio of the Au nanorods. The longitudinal surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of the Au nanorods was successfully tuned with the concentration of silver ions. The surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) effect of 2-aminothiophenol (2-ATP) as a probe molecule on Au nanorods was systematically studied by varying the longitudinal surface plasmon resonance of the nanorods. The highest electromagnetic enhancement was observed when the longitudinal surface plasmon resonance of the Au nanorods overlapped with the laser excitation wavelength. The variation of the SERS enhancement factor with the longitudinal surface plasmon resonance and laser excitation lines is also discussed in detail.     

Optical properties of Ag nanoparticles embedded Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3 films prepared by alternating pulsed laser deposition

Nanocomposite thin films consisting of nanometer-sized Ag particles embedded in amorphous Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3 matrix were prepared on fused silica substrates by an alternating pulsed laser deposition method. Their optical nonlinearities have been studied using the Z-scan method. The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peak shifts to red and increases with the increasing the volume fraction of Ag in the nanocomposite films. The magnitude of the third-order nonlinear susceptibility of the nanocomposite with an Ag volume fraction of 3.3% was calculated to be approximately 2 x 10(-8) esu at the SPR wavelength.     

Rh:BaTiO3 thin films with large nonlinear optical properties

We report the fabrication and the nonlinear optical properties of Rh-doped BaTiO3 thin films. The films were deposited on SrTiO3 (100) substrates by pulsed-laser deposition. The deposited Rh:BaTiO3 thin films were single phase and c-axis orientation investigated by x-ray diffraction. The films exhibited large nonlinear optical effects, which were determined using Z-scan technique at a wavelength of 532 nm with a laser duration of 10 ns. The real and imaginary parts of the third-order nonlinear susceptibility chi (3) were 5.71 x 10(-7) esu and 9.59 x 10(-8) esu, respectively. The value of Re chi (3) of Rh:BaTiO3 films is much larger than those of several representative nonlinear optical thin films. The results show that Rh:BaTiO3 thin films have great potential applications for nonlinear optical devices.     

Label-free plasmonic detection of biomolecular binding by a single gold nanorod

We report the use of individual gold nanorods as plasmonic transducers to detect the binding of streptavidin to individual biotin-conjugated nanorods in real time on a surface. Label-free detection at the single-nanorod level was performed by tracking the wavelength shift of the nanorod-localized surface plasmon resonant scattering spectrum using a dark-field microspectroscopy system. The lowest streptavidin concentration that was experimentally measured was 1 nM, which is a factor of 1000-fold lower than the previously reported detection limit for streptavidin binding by biotinylated single plasmonic nanostructures. We believe that the current optical setup is able to reliably measure wavelength shifts as small as 0.3 nm. Binding of streptavidin at 1 nM concentration induces a mean resonant wavelength shift of 0.59 nm suggesting that we are currently operating at close to the limit of detection of the system.     

Quantitative optical trapping of single gold nanorods

We report a quantitative analysis of the forces acting on optically trapped single gold nanorods. Individual nanorods with diameters between 8 and 44 nm and aspect ratios between 1.7 and 5.6 were stably trapped in three dimensions using a laser wavelength exceeding their plasmon resonance wavelengths. The interaction between the electromagnetic field of an optical trap and a single gold nanorod correlated with particle polarizability, which is a function of both particle volume and aspect ratio.     

Stable and reproducible synthesis of gold nanorods for biomedical applications: a comprehensive study

Gold nanorods (GNRs) are ideal choice in biomedical research due to their amenability of synthesis, tunable plasmonic properties, less toxicity and ease of detection but their diverse biological applications necessitate stable structure. Despite two decades'' efforts made towards reproducible anisotropic structures synthesis, still the kinetic control during GNRs growth has not been achieved. This study is an attempt to apprehend thermodynamic and kinetic parameters for synthesising mono‐disperse, reproducible and highly stable GNRs with desired aspect ratios. Effects of various growth parameters and assay steps on the facile and reproducible synthesis of GNRs are analysed. GNRs'' environmental and biological colloidal stability is studied through UV–Vis spectroscopy based particle instability parameter (PIP < 0.1). The authors hereby report GNRs with tunable longitudinal surface plasmon resonance (682–906 nm) having different aspect ratios (2.5–4.6) that are stable at 28–60°C; however, prolonged high temperature ( > 60°C) and alkaline pH can trigger colloidal instability. GNRs remain stable at higher salt concentration, physiological and slightly acidic pH. GNRs can be stored in 0.001 M cetyltrimethylammonium bromide for 3 months without compromising their stability. PEGylated GNRs are quite stable in cellular media solution (PIP < 0.1). With current optimised growth conditions, no aggregation at physiological pH and stability at high temperatures make GNRs an ideal candidate in biomedical applications.Inspec keywords: gold, nanorods, nanofabrication, nanomedicine, toxicology, thermodynamics, ultraviolet spectra, visible spectra, surface plasmon resonance, pH, cellular biophysicsOther keywords: nanorod synthesis, biomedical applications, tunable plasmonic properties, toxicity, reproducible anisotropic structures synthesis, thermodynamic parameters, kinetic parameters, GNR, biological colloidal stability, UV‐Vis spectroscopy, particle instability parameter, tunable longitudinal surface plasmon resonance, aspect ratios, alkaline pH, physiological pH, slightly acidic pH, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, cellular media solution, optimised growth conditions, aggregation, wavelength 682 nm to 906 nm, time 3 month, Au     

Extraordinary nonlinear absorption in 3D bowtie nanoantennas

This paper reports that arrays of three-dimensional (3D), bowtie-shaped Au nanoparticle dimers can exhibit extremely high nonlinear absorption. Near-field interactions across the gap of the 3D bowties at the localized surface plasmon resonance wavelengths resulted in an increase of more than 4 orders of magnitude in local field intensity. The imaginary part of the third-order nonlinear susceptibility (Im χ((3))) for the 3D bowtie arrays embedded in a dielectric material was measured to be 10(-4) esu, more than 2 orders of magnitude higher than reported for other metal nanoparticle-dielectric composites. Moreover, 3D dimers with increased nanoscale structure (such as folding) exhibited increased optical nonlinearity. These 3D nanoantennas can be used as critical elements for nanoscale nonlinear optical devices.     

High-resolution multiwavelength surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy for probing conformational and electronic changes in redox proteins

To date, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectroscopy identifies molecules via specific bindings with their ligands immobilized on a surface. We demonstrate here that a high-resolution multiwavelength SPR technique can measure the electronic states of the molecules and thus allow direct identification of the molecules. Using this new capability, we have studied the electronic and conformational differences between the oxidized and reduced states of cytochrome c immobilized on a modified gold electrode. When the wavelength of the incident light is far away from the optical absorption bands of the protein, a approximately 0.008 degree decrease in the resonance angle, due to a conformational change, occurs as the protein is switched from the oxidized to reduced states. When the wavelength is tuned to the absorption bands, the resonance angle oscillates at the wavelengths of the absorption peaks, which provides electronic signatures of the protein.     

Nanophotonic switch: gold-in-Ga2O3 peapod nanowires

A novel metal-insulator heterostructure made of twinned Ga2O3 nanowires embedding discrete gold particles along the twin boundary was formed through a reaction between gold, gallium, and silica at 800 degrees C during simple thermal annealing. The Au-in-Ga2O3 peapods spontaneously crystallized under phase separation induced by the formation of twin boundaries. The nanostructures were analyzed by field emission scanning (FESEM) and transmission electron microscopes (FETEM), and their photoresponse was investigated using a double-frequency Nd:YAG laser with a wavelength of 532 nm on a designed single-nanowire device. The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effects of embedded Au nanoparticles are proposed to be responsible for the remarkable photoresponse of these novel structures.