Plasmonic Antennas: Enhancing Light-Molecule Interaction

This lecture covers the design and fabrication of plasmonic dipole antennas, focusing on the field enhancement in the gap between nanostructures. It discusses the coupling effect, distance dependence, and transposition of classical antenna designs in plasmonics. The lecture also explores Raman spectroscopy, providing insights into elastic and inelastic light scattering for chemical structure analysis. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is detailed, emphasizing the identification of molecules through their unique Raman fingerprint and the enhancement of Raman scattering by plasmonic structures. The accidental discovery of SERS and the achievement of single molecule sensitivity are also highlighted.