title: Metal-enhanced fluorescence from silver-SiO2-silver nanoburger structures.
abstract: Multilayers of nanoburger structures of silver island films-SiO(2)-silver island films (SIFs-SiO(2)-SIFs) were used as substrates to study the fluorescence of close-proximity fluorophores. Compared to single-layered SIFs, multilayer nanoburgers exhibit several distinctive properties including a significantly enhanced fluorescence intensity, decreased lifetimes, and increased fluorphore photostability by simply varying the dielectric layer thickness while the SIF layer is kept constant. Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) calculations show that the maximum electric field intensity can be tuned by varying the distance between the silver particles. Enhanced fluorescence emission coupled with a reduced fluorophore lifetime suggests that both an electric field and plasmon-coupling component are the underlying mechanisms for nanoburger-based metal-enhanced fluorescence (MEF). This tunable multilayer nanoburger structure holds great potential for applications in biology, microscopy, imaging, and biomedical research, given the current uses of MEF.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Fluorescence, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 701 East Pratt Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21202, USA.
authors.forename: Yongxia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Lynda N
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Mandeng
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bondre
authors.forename: Anatoliy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dragan
authors.forename: Chris D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Geddes
mesh_terms: D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D012834:Silver / Q000737:chemistry*; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence
chemical_list: D012834:Silver; D012822:Silicon Dioxide