The central theme of this thesis is the use of imaging Surface Plasmon Resonance (iSPR) as a tool in the characterization of surfaces with laterally varying properties. Within the scope of this work, an instrument for iSPR analysis was designed and built. SPR is a very sensitive technique for monitoring changes in optical properties in the immediate vicinity of a sensor surface, which is very u...

A novel method for detection of noble-metal nanoparticles by their nonlinear optical properties is presented and applied for specific labeling of cellular organelles. When illuminated by laser light in resonance with their plasmon frequency these nanoparticles generate an enhanced multiphoton signal. This enhanced signal is measured to obtain a depth-resolved image in a laser scanning microscop...

4. LIGAND 10 4.1. Direct versus indirect immobilisation 10 4.2. Covalent immobilisation 11 4.2.1. A general approach 11 4.2.2. Choice of chemistry 12 4.2.3. Prepare the protein 12 4.2.4. Pre-concentration 12 4.2.5. Amine coupling 14 4.2.6. Regeneration 15 4.2.7. Adjusting the immobilisation conditions. 16 4.3. Non-covalent immobilisation (ligand capture) 16 4.3.1. Using an existing strategy 17 ...

We report on the fabrication and investigation of the plasmon excitations in laterally confined quasi-two-dimensional (2D) Ag nanodisks on a Si(111) substrate. Different from the Mie resonance in Ag clusters and the propagating plasmon waves in 2D systems, these ultrathin nanodisks exhibit a low-energy plasmon resonance whose frequency is continuously tunable by the disk diameter. Quantum-mecha...

The optical properties of metals arise both from optical excitation of interband transitions and their collective electronic, or plasmon, response. Here, we examine the optical properties of Cu, whose strong interband transitions dominate its optical response in the visible region of the spectrum, in a nanoshell geometry. This nanostructure permits the geometrical tuning of the nanoparticle pla...

We elucidated the distance-dependent plasmonic effects on radiative transitions from an Eu(3+) ion-doped phosphor by varying the thickness of the dielectric spacer. Magnesium oxide prepared by electron-beam evaporation was chosen for the dielectric spacer. Spectral overlap between emission from Eu(3+) ions and the plasmon band of Ag nanoparticles led to improved luminescence intensity. This lum...

The present study investigates the angular response and sensitivity of a surface plasmon resonance biosensor with metamaterial, by taking the advantage of the remarkable property of metamaterials. The proposed biosensor numerically shows that silver with a metamaterial layer enhances the sensitivity. The thickness of metamaterial and silver layer has been optimized. On comparing these results w...

We describe an all-electrical plasmon detection based on the near field coupling between plasmons and percolating electrons. It is the technique to electrically detect the local field enhancement from randomly distributed Cu nanoparticles coupled to a plasmon resonance. In addition, we revealed that plasmon-sensitivity is maximized at the percolation threshold, the minimum Cu particle surface c...