title: Self-Assembled Active Plasmonic Waveguide with a Peptide-Based Thermomechanical Switch.
abstract: Nanoscale plasmonic waveguides composed of metallic nanoparticles are capable of guiding electromagnetic energy below the optical diffraction limit. Signal feed-in and readout typically require the utilization of electronic effects or near-field optical techniques, whereas for their fabrication mainly lithographic methods are employed. Here we developed a switchable plasmonic waveguide assembled from gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) on a DNA origami structure that facilitates a simple spectroscopic excitation and readout. The waveguide is specifically excited at one end by a fluorescent dye, and energy transfer is detected at the other end via the fluorescence of a second dye. The transfer distance is beyond the multicolor FRET range and below the Abbé limit. The transmittance of the waveguide can also be reversibly switched by changing the position of a AuNP within the waveguide, which is tethered to the origami platform by a thermoresponsive peptide. High-yield fabrication of the plasmonic waveguides in bulk was achieved using silica particles as solid supports. Our findings enable bulk solution applications for plasmonic waveguides as light-focusing and light-polarizing elements below the diffraction limit.
authors.affiliation: Systems Biophysics and Bionanotechnology-E14, Physics-Department and ZNN, Technische Universität München , 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Kilian
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vogele
authors.affiliation: Systems Biophysics and Bionanotechnology-E14, Physics-Department and ZNN, Technische Universität München , 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: List
authors.affiliation: Systems Biophysics and Bionanotechnology-E14, Physics-Department and ZNN, Technische Universität München , 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Günther
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pardatscher
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Cleveland State University , 2121 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115, United States.
authors.forename: Nolan B
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: Holland
authors.affiliation: Systems Biophysics and Bionanotechnology-E14, Physics-Department and ZNN, Technische Universität München , 85748 Garching, Germany.|Nanosystems Initiative Munich , 80539 Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Friedrich C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Simmel
authors.affiliation: Systems Biophysics and Bionanotechnology-E14, Physics-Department and ZNN, Technische Universität München , 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4603-8851
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pirzer
keywords: DNA nanotechnology; nanoparticles; plasmonic waveguide; plasmonics; smart polymers