Photonic Sensors, Volume. 10, Issue 4, 364(2020)
Near-Field Spot for Localized Light-Excitation of a Single Fluorescent Molecule
Zero-mode waveguides have become important tools for the detection of single molecules. There are still, however, serious challenges because large molecules need to be packed into nano-holes. To circumvent this problem, we investigate and numerically simulate a novel planar sub-wavelength 3-dimension (3D) structure, which is named as near-field spot. It enables the detection of a single molecule in highly concentrated solutions. The near-field spot can produce evanescent waves at the dielectric/water interface, which exponentially decay as they travel away from the dielectric/water interface. These evanescent waves are keys for the detection of fluorescently tagged single molecules. A numerical simulation of the proposed device shows that the performance is comparable with a zero-mode waveguide. Additional degrees-of-freedom, however, can potentially supersede its performance.
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Muhammad Shemyal NISAR, Yujun CUI, Kaitong DANG, Liyong JIANG, Xiangwei ZHAO. Near-Field Spot for Localized Light-Excitation of a Single Fluorescent Molecule[J]. Photonic Sensors, 2020, 10(4): 364
Category: Regular
Received: Oct. 6, 2019
Accepted: Jun. 12, 2020
Published Online: Nov. 25, 2020
The Author Email: ZHAO Xiangwei (xwzhao@seu.edu.cn)