Jerome Wenger NanoBioPhotonics

See our new preprint released on ArXiv 1403.2222: Nanophotonic enhancement of the Förster resonance energy transfer rate on single DNA molecules

Nanophotonics achieves accurate control over the luminescence properties of a single quantum emitter by tailoring the light-matter interaction at the nanoscale and modifying the local density of optical states (LDOS). This paradigm could also benefit to Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) by enhancing the near-field electromagnetic interaction between two fluorescent emitters. Despite the wide applications of FRET in nanosciences, using nanophotonics to enhance FRET remains a debated and complex challenge. Here, we demonstrate enhanced energy transfer within single donor-acceptor fluorophore pairs confined in gold nanoapertures. Experiments monitoring both the donor and the acceptor emission photodynamics at the single molecule level clearly establish a linear dependence of the FRET rate on the LDOS in nanoapertures. These findings are applied to enhance the FRET rate in nanoapertures up to six times, demonstrating that nanophotonics can be used to intensify the near-field energy transfer and improve the biophotonic applications of FRET.

Jerome will attend SPIE Photonics Europe 2014 conference in Brussels on April 14-17. He will present four contributions from the group:

• Paper 9126-57 Plasmonic nanoantennas for enhanced single molecule analysis at high concentrations (invited paper)
• Paper 9126-62 Enhanced fluorescence emission from resonant DNA assembled plasmonic nanoantennas loaded with single dye molecules
• Paper 9129-91 Hollow core photonic crystal fiber probes for Raman and fluorescence spectroscopy with photonic nanojet focusing
• Paper 9125-62 Homogenization of metamaterials through the singular analysis of scattering spectra

We have recently published a review paper about plasmonic antennas and zero mode waveguides (nanoapertures) to enhance the detection and analysis of fluorescent molecules. Single molecule spectroscopy techniques, FRET and FCS can greatly benefit from zero mode waveguides and plasmonic antennas to enter a new dimension of molecular concentration reaching physiological conditions. You can find the review on WIREs Nanomedicine and Nanobiotechnology, or alternatively, we posted an unedited version on arXiv.

Petru, Juan and Jerome will attend the NanoLight 2014 conference in Benasque during the first week of March. They will give one talk and three poster contributions:

• Plasmonic enhanced fluorescence energy transfer
• Enhanced fluorescence emission from resonant DNA assembled plasmonic nanoantennas loaded with single dye molecules
• Homogenization of metamaterials through the singular analysis of scattering spectra
• Optical fiber probe for remote single molecule fluorescence sensing

Got the guts? Get the glory: only a few days are left before the application deadline for the PhD grants offered by the Erasmus Mundus Europhotonics doctorate program. There are several PhD positions at the Fresnel Institute in Marseille France. Get this opportunity now, next year will likely see no call.