SEROA

We have developed a near-infrared (near-IR) excited surface-enhanced Raman optical activity (SEROA) spectrometer in collaboration with Biotools Inc. This is a sensitive new probe of biological molecules and trace chiral materials. The research will use nanoshells as a tunable, highly-uniform, SERS substrates for chiral molecules and bio-molecules.

We are working on benchmarking the near-IR SEROA using a standard ChiralRAMAN ROA spectrometer from BioTools, Inc. with 532 nm excitation The project will also compare the performance of the near-IR SEROA spectrometer to a Raman spectrometer currently in the Halas group.

Faculty
Naomi Halas
Jeffery Hartgerink

Corporate Collaborators
Nanospectra Biosciences Inc.  
BioTools Inc.  

Rationally designed nanosensers for chemical and biodetection

An understanding of the fundamental photophysics behind the interaction of small molecules with nanostructured substrates is important to rationally designing substrates for surface enhanced spectroscopies. We use a comprehensive theoretical approach to model this interaction and design substrates for detecting small molecules and probe protein structure. We fabricate and optimize the  substrates for all surface enhanced spectroscopies like Surface Enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), Fluorescence spectroscopy, Surface enhanced infra red spectroscopy (SEIRA).

Faculty
Naomi Halas
Peter Nordlander
Bruce Johnson
Jeffery Hartgerink

Corporate Collaborators
Nanospectra Biosciences Inc.  

Funding
National Science Foundation
Air Force Office of Scientific Research
Welch Foundation