title: Bi-analyte SERS with isotopically edited dyes.
abstract: Isotopically substituted rhodamine dyes provide ideal probes for the study of single-molecule surface enhanced Raman scattering (SM-SERS) events through multiple-analyte techniques. Isotopic editing should, in principle, provide probes that have identical chemical properties (and surface chemistries); while exhibiting at the same time distinct Raman features which enable us to identify single-molecule SERS events. We present here a specific example of two-analyte SM-SERS based on the isotopic substitution of a methyl ester rhodamine dye. The dyes are carefully characterized (in both standard and SERS conditions) to confirm experimentally their similar chemical properties. We then demonstrate their utility for bi-analyte SERS (BiASERS) experiments and, as an example, highlight the transition from a single, to a few, to many molecules in the statistics of SM-SERS signals.
authors.affiliation: The MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Blackie
authors.forename: E C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Le Ru
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Timmer
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Burkett
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Northcote
authors.forename: P G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Etchegoin