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Plasmon enhanced NSOM tips for SERS

Achievement/Results

The Seideman group performed Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) calculations to characterize the response of a silver needle on which a grating has been patterned. The simulations show that such tips can be resonantly coupled to incoming light in a manner that greatly enhances the field at the tip. By exploiting the phenomena of Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) such tips can be exploited to allow Near-field Scanning Optical Microscopy (NSOM) to image Raman active objects with the goal of achieving single molecule sensitivities.

Address Goals

Chemically specific imaging at the nanoscale is of great importance in the physical and biological sciences. NSOM coupled with SERS offers a path to this goal.