Quantum plasmonic immunoassay sensing
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Plasmon–polaritons are among the most promising candidates for next-generation optical sensors due to their ability to support extremely confined electromagnetic fields and empower strong coupling of light and matter. Here we propose quantum plasmonic immunoassay sensing as an innovative scheme, which embeds immunoassay sensing with recently demonstrated room-temperature strong coupling in nanoplasmonic cavities. In our protocol, the antibody–antigen–antibody complex is chemically linked with a quantum emitter label. Placing the quantum-emitter-enhanced antibody–antigen–antibody complexes inside or close to a nanoplasmonic (hemisphere dimer) cavity facilitates strong coupling between the plasmon–polaritons and the emitter label resulting in signature Rabi splitting. Through rigorous statistical analysis of multiple analytes randomly distributed on the substrate in extensive realistic computational experiments, we demonstrate a drastic enhancement of the sensitivity up to nearly 1500% compared to conventional shifting-type plasmonic sensors. Most importantly and in stark contrast to classical sensing, we achieve in the strong-coupling (quantum) sensing regime an enhanced sensitivity that is no longer dependent on the concentration of antibody–antigen–antibody complexes down to the single-analyte limit. The quantum plasmonic immunoassay scheme thus not only leads to the development of plasmonic biosensing for single molecules but also opens up new pathways toward room-temperature quantum sensing enabled by biomolecular inspired protocols linked with quantum nanoplasmonics.
Date Issued
2019-09-11
Date Acceptance
2019-07-01
Citation
Nano Letters: a journal dedicated to nanoscience and nanotechnology, 2019, 19 (9), pp.5853-5861
ISSN
1530-6984
Publisher
American Chemical Society
Start Page
5853
End Page
5861
Journal / Book Title
Nano Letters: a journal dedicated to nanoscience and nanotechnology
Volume
19
Issue
9
Copyright Statement
© 2019 American Chemical Society. This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Nano Letters, after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b01137.
Sponsor
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (E
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (E
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000486361900004&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Grant Number
RG72590
EP/L027151/1
EP/L024926/1
Subjects
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Technology
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Chemistry, Physical
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Physics, Applied
Physics, Condensed Matter
Chemistry
Science & Technology - Other Topics
Materials Science
Physics
Nanoplasmonics
strong-coupling
biosensing
immunoassay
Rabi-splitting
SURFACE
ABSORPTION
NANOPARTICLES
SPECTRA
SWITCH
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2019-07-29