Fluorescence enhancement from plasmonic Au templates

We have fabricated sub-quarter-micron-patterned Au templates with electron beam lithography, and studied their effect on the fluorescence intensity of immobilized, anti-rabbit IgG antibody labeled with AlexaFluor (R) 546. Varying the geometry of the structured surface, the plasmon resonances are tuned to match the fluorescence wavelengths and achieve significant fluorescence enhancement. Full electrodynamic simulations were used to understand the optical response and access the quality of the fabricated structures for surface plasmon excitation. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.