No abstract

Solid-state nanopores promise a scalable platform for single-molecule DNA analysis. Direct, real-time identification of nucleobases in DNA strands is still limited by the sensitivity and the spatial resolution of established ionic sensing strategies. Here, we study a different but promising strategy based on optical spectroscopy. We use an optically engineered elongated nanopore structure, a plasmonic nanoslit, to locally enable single-molecule surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Combining SERS with nanopore fluidics facilitates both the electrokinetic capture of DNA analytes and their local identification through direct Raman spectroscopic fingerprinting of four nucleobases. By studying the stochastic fluctuation process of DNA analytes that are temporarily adsorbed inside the pores, we have observed asynchronous spectroscopic behavior of different nucleobases, both individual and incorporated in DNA strands. These results provide evidences for the single-molecule sensitivity and the sub-nanometer spatial resolution of plasmonic nanoslit SERS.

PECVD silicon nitride photonic wire waveguides have been fabricated in a CMOS pilot line. Both clad and unclad single mode wire waveguides were measured at ¼ 532, 780, and 900 nm, respectively. The dependence of loss on wire width, wavelength, and cladding is discussed in detail. Cladded multimode and singlemode waveguides show a loss well below 1 dB/cm in the 532-900 nm wavelength range. For singlemode unclad waveguides, losses G 1 dB/cm were achieved at ¼ 900 nm, whereas losses were measured in the range of 1-3 dB/cm for ¼ 780 and 532 nm, respectively.

In this work we investigate numerically and experimentally the resonance wavelength tuning of different nanoplasmonic antennas excited through the evanescent field of a single mode silicon nitride waveguide and study their interaction with this excitation field. Experimental interaction efficiencies up to 19% are reported and it is shown that the waveguide geometry can be tuned in order to optimize this interaction. Apart from the excitation of bright plasmon modes, an efficient coupling between the evanescent field and a dark plasmonic resonance is experimentally demonstrated and theoretically explained as a result of the propagation induced phase delay.

We present the numerical and experimental demonstration of plasmonic Bragg filters and resonators inside metal-insulator-metal (MIM) waveguides. The presented filters and resonators are fabricated using standard top down lithography methods. The optical bandgap of the integrated Bragg filters is experimentally observed and its optical properties are investigated as a function of the grating pitch and the number of grating periods. Transmission filters based on a nanocavity resonance were measured, obtaining Q-factors above 30. Tuning of the cavity wavelength was experimentally achieved by varying the cavity length.