Plasmonics

The field of plasmonics covers the interaction of light with metallic nanoparticles. If such a nanoparticle is illuminated with electromagnetic radiation, localized plasmons, i.e. electron oscillations, form on its surface. These plasmons in turn generate an alternating electric field in the vicinity of the nanoparticle. If two metallic nanoparticles are arranged a few nanometers apart, the electric field that forms in the area exactly between the two nanoparticles can be significantly stronger than the electric field of the incident light. If it is now possible to place a dye molecule precisely in this area, the so-called hotspot, its fluorescence signal can be amplified by several orders of magnitude. In addition, the photophysical properties of dye molecules such as quantum yield, transition rates or FRET efficiencies can be manipulated and adjusted by plasmonics, but even the simple colocalization of nanoparticles and fluorescent dye molecules can be interesting and valuable for many applications.

GATTAquant has the necessary expertise for all these applications. This includes the following points in particular:

• Plasmonic and photophysical know-how for the planning and design of defined nanoparticle fluorophore constructs, which precisely match the properties desired by the customer.
• Experience in the production of homogeneous and precise spherical metal nanoparticles, which guarantee a high reproducibility of the plasmonic properties.
• Expertise for the realization of nanoparticle fluorophore constructs parallelized and with high precision by application of DNA Origami technology