title: Gold nanofingers for molecule trapping and detection.
abstract: Here we demonstrate a molecular trap structure that can be formed to capture analyte molecules in solution for detection and identification. The structure is based on gold-coated nanoscale polymer fingers made by nanoimprinting technique. The nanofingers are flexible and their tips can be brought together to trap molecules, while at the same time the gold-coated fingertips form a reliable Raman hot spot for molecule detection and identification based on surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). The molecule self-limiting gap size control between fingertips ensures ultimate SERS enhancement for sensitive molecule detection. Furthermore, these type of structures, resulting from top-down meeting self-assembly, can be generalized for other applications, such as plasmonics, meta-materials, and other nanophotonic systems.
authors.affiliation: Information & Quantum Systems Laboratory, Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, 1501 Page Mill Road, MS1123, Palo Alto, California 94304, USA.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Fung Suong
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Ou
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Naumov
authors.forename: Xuema
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Alexander M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Bratkovsky
authors.forename: R Stanley
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Zhiyong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li