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Long Range Surface Plasmons for Observation of Biomolecular Binding Events at Metallic Surfaces

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Abstract

A long range surface plasmon (LRSP) is an electromagnetic wave propagating along a thin metal film with an order of magnitude lower damping than conventional surface plasmon (SP) waves. Thus, the excitation of LRSP is associated with a narrower resonance and it provides larger enhancement of intensity of the electromagnetic field. In surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensors, these features allow a more precise observation of the binding of biomolecules in the proximity to the metal surface by using the (label-free) measurement of refractive index (RI) variations and by SP-enhanced fluorescence spectroscopy. In this contribution, we investigate LRSPs excited on a layer structure consisting of a fluoropolymer buffer layer, a thin gold film, and an aqueous sample. By implementing such structure in an SPR sensor, we achieved a 2.4- and 4.4-fold improvement of the resolution in the label-free and fluorescence-based detection, respectively, of the binding of biomolecules in the close proximity to the surface. Moreover, we demonstrate that the sensor resolution can be improved by a factor of 14 and 12 for the label-free and fluorescence-based detection, respectively, if the biomolecular binding events occur within the whole evanescent field of LRSP.

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Acknowledgements

Partial support for this work was provided by the Deutsche Forschungsgemainschaft (KN 224/18-1, Schwerpunktprogramm “Intelligente Hydrogele”, JPP 1259) and by the EU through FP6-2005-FOOD-036300 (“TRACEPACK”).

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  1. Amal Kasry

    Present address: Center for Cell Analysis and Modeling (CCAM), UConn Health Center, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, CT, 06030, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science, Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, 55128, Mainz, Germany

    Jakub Dostálek, Amal Kasry & Wolfgang Knoll

Authors
  1. Jakub Dostálek
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  2. Amal Kasry
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  3. Wolfgang Knoll
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Correspondence to Jakub Dostálek.

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Dostálek, J., Kasry, A. & Knoll, W. Long Range Surface Plasmons for Observation of Biomolecular Binding Events at Metallic Surfaces. Plasmonics 2, 97–106 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-007-9037-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-007-9037-8

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