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Singular phase nano-optics in plasmonic metamaterials for label-free single-molecule detection

Nature Materials volume 12, pages 304–309 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

The non-trivial behaviour of phase is crucial for many important physical phenomena, such as, for example, the Aharonov–Bohm effect1 and the Berry phase2. By manipulating the phase of light one can create ’twisted’ photons3,4, vortex knots5 and dislocations6 which has led to the emergence of the field of singular optics relying on abrupt phase changes7. Here we demonstrate the feasibility of singular visible-light nano-optics which exploits the benefits of both plasmonic field enhancement and the peculiarities of the phase of light. We show that properly designed plasmonic metamaterials exhibit topologically protected zero reflection yielding to sharp phase changes nearby, which can be employed to radically improve the sensitivity of detectors based on plasmon resonances. By using reversible hydrogenation of graphene8 and binding of streptavidin–biotin9, we demonstrate an areal mass sensitivity at a level of fg mm−2 and detection of individual biomolecules, respectively. Our proof-of-concept results offer a route towards simple and scalable single-molecule label-free biosensing technologies.

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Figure 1: Singular phase and topologically protected darkness.
Figure 2: Hydrogenation of graphene placed on top of a singular-phase nanostructure.
Figure 3: Evaluation of sensitivity for singular-phase plasmonic detectors with the help of graphene hydrogenation.
Figure 4: Biosensing with a plasmonic metamaterial.

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  • 06 February 2013

    In the version of this Letter originally published online, in the bottom inset in Fig. 1c, the first three numbers on the y axis (reading from bottom to top) should have read 0, 15 and 30. This error has been corrected in all versions of the Letter.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the SAIT GRO Program, European Commission (Metachem), and French National Research Agency (ANR).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK

    V. G. Kravets, F. Schedin, R. Jalil, L. Britnell, R. V. Gorbachev, D. Ansell, B. Thackray, K. S. Novoselov, A. K. Geim & A. N. Grigorenko

  2. Laboratoire Lasers, Plasmas et Procédés Photoniques (LP3, UMR 7341 CNRS), Faculté des Sciences de Luminy, Aix-Marseille University, 163 Avenue de Luminy, 13288 Marseille Cedex 09, France

    A. V. Kabashin

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  1. V. G. Kravets
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Contributions

A.N.G. and A.V.K. conceived the idea. V.G.K., F.S., R.J., R.V.G. and D.A. made the devices. V.G.K., L.B., B.T., K.S.N., A.N.G. and A.V.K. modified samples and performed measurements. All the authors contributed to discussion of the project. A.K.G., K.S.N. and A.N.G. guided the project. A.N.G., A.V.K., K.S.N. and A.K.G. wrote the manuscript with revisions from all authors.

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Correspondence to A. V. Kabashin or A. N. Grigorenko.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Kravets, V., Schedin, F., Jalil, R. et al. Singular phase nano-optics in plasmonic metamaterials for label-free single-molecule detection. Nature Mater 12, 304–309 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3537

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