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Fano-resonant asymmetric metamaterials for ultrasensitive spectroscopy and identification of molecular monolayers

Nature Materials volume 11, pages 69–75 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

Engineered optical metamaterials present a unique platform for biosensing applications owing to their ability to confine light to nanoscale regions and to their spectral selectivity. Infrared plasmonic metamaterials are especially attractive because their resonant response can be accurately tuned to that of the vibrational modes of the target biomolecules. Here we introduce an infrared plasmonic surface based on a Fano-resonant asymmetric metamaterial exhibiting sharp resonances caused by the interference between subradiant and superradiant plasmonic resonances. Owing to the metamaterial’s asymmetry, the frequency of the subradiant resonance can be precisely determined and matched to the molecule’s vibrational fingerprints. A multipixel array of Fano-resonant asymmetric metamaterials is used as a platform for multispectral biosensing of nanometre-scale monolayers of recognition proteins and their surface orientation, as well as for detecting chemical binding of target antibodies to recognition proteins.

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Figure 1: Geometry and electromagnetic properties of a FRAMM.
Figure 2: Near fields of the FRAMMs for different frequencies and incident polarizations and their manifestations in infrared reflectance spectroscopy.
Figure 3: Application of FRAMM-based substrates to reflectivity-difference spectroscopy of protein mono- and bilayers.
Figure 4: Visualization and identification of vibrational resonances of proteins using the normalized first-frequency-derivative spectra G ( ω Q ) (ω) from an array of FRAMM-based pixels.

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Acknowledgements

The authors C.W., A.B.K., N.A. and G.S. acknowledge the Welch Foundation for supporting the fabrication and characterization facilities of the Center for Nano and Molecular Science and Technology at the University of Texas at Austin. This research was supported by the Office of Naval Research (grants N00014-10-1-0929 to G.S. and 11PR00755-00-P00001 to H.A.), the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (grant FA8650-090-D-5037 to G.S.), the National Science Foundation (grants CMMI-0928664 to G.S. and ECCS-0954790 to H.A.) and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (grant to H.A.). R.A., A.A.Y. and H.A. acknowledge the DOD/Army Research Laboratory (grant W911NF-06-2-0040) for supporting optical characterization facilities and bio-safety laboratories at the Boston University Photonics Center.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Center for Nano and Molecular Science and Technology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA

    Chihhui Wu, Alexander B. Khanikaev, Nihal Arju & Gennady Shvets

  2. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA

    Ronen Adato, Ahmet Ali Yanik & Hatice Altug

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  1. Chihhui Wu
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All authors contributed extensively to the work presented in this paper.

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Correspondence to Hatice Altug or Gennady Shvets.

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Wu, C., Khanikaev, A., Adato, R. et al. Fano-resonant asymmetric metamaterials for ultrasensitive spectroscopy and identification of molecular monolayers. Nature Mater 11, 69–75 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3161

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