A detailed investigation of phonon modes in DNA macromolecules is presented. This work presents experimental evidence to confirm the presence of multiple dielectric resonances in the submillimeter-wave spectra (i.e., ∼0.01–10 THz) obtained from DNA samples. These long-wave (i.e., ∼1–30 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{-}1}$) absorption features are shown to be intrinsic properties of the particular DNA sequence under study. Most importantly, a direct comparison of spectra between different DNA samples reveals a large number of modes and a reasonable level of sequence-specific uniqueness. This work establishes the initial foundation for the future use of submillimeter-wave spectroscopy in the identification and characterization of DNA macromolecules.

• Received 5 September 2001

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.65.051903