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Plasmonic substrates

The properties of ordered nanostructure and nanohole arrays include localized enhancement of plasmon intensity at discontinuities along the structures and tuning of the plasmon wavelength throughout the visible and near infrared regions. Additionally the propagation length of the plasmon is much shorter on these structures than on planar metals.

Transmission

Visable and Near-IR transmission spectra of nanohole arrays with increasing periodicity show a shift to longer wavelengths.

Water Absorbance Image

Ordered nanostructure arrays support multiple plasmonic modes, each with different frequencies and propagation lengths. The key is to select and tune the mode with the best properties for a particular application.

ImageImage

Photomediated catalysis of nanoparticles. Shining intense colored light during growth of nanoparticles affects the nanoparticle size and consequently the optical properties.

 

Current Research

Our research interest is the development of in-situ chemical sensors for environmental, biomedical, and industrial process monitoring. Specifically, the research group has been concentrating on advancement of fiber optic surface plasmon resonance (SPR) Raman, and fluorescence sensors. In developing these sensors we meld instrumental design with advanced data analysis (Chemometrics) methods to achieve optimal instrumental performance. This research is driven by the realization that many measurement challenges – particularly problems involving analyte selectivity and sensitivity – are not best addressed by solely applying chemistry or physics solutions. These ‘physical’ solutions are often time, labor, and capital expensive. Instead, instrumental selectivity and sensitivity (and robustness) can often be enhanced by incorporating mathematical and statistical analysis of the collected data into the instrumental design.