Nanophotonic enhancement of the F\"orster 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 F\"orster 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

Optimizing Nanoparticle Designs for Ideal Absorption of Light

International audienceResonant interaction of light with nanoparticles is essential for a broad range of nanophotonics andplasmonics applications, including optical antennas, photovoltaics, thermoplasmonics, and sensing. Given this broadinterest, analytical formulas are highly desirable to provide design guidelines for reaching the conditions of idealabsorption. Here we derive analytical expressions to accurately describe the electric and magnetic modes leading toideal absorption. Our model significantly improves on accuracy as compared to classical models usingGreen's functions or a Mie coefficient expansion. We demonstrate its applicability over a broad parameter space offrequencies and particle diameters up to several wavelengths. We reveal that ideal absorption is attainable inhomogeneous spherical nanoparticles made of gold or silver at specific sizes and illumination frequencies. To reachideal absorption at virtually any frequency in the visible and near infrared range, we provide explicit guidelines to designcore-shell nanoparticles. This work should prove useful for providing experimental designs that optimize absorptionand for a better understanding of the physics of ideal absorption

Plasmonic antennas and zero mode waveguides to enhance single molecule fluorescence detection and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy towards physiological concentrations

Single-molecule approaches to biology offer a powerful new vision to elucidate the mechanisms that underpin the functioning of living cells. However, conventional optical single molecule spectroscopy techniques such as F\"orster fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) or fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) are limited by diffraction to the nanomolar concentration range, far below the physiological micromolar concentration range where most biological reaction occur. To breach the diffraction limit, zero mode waveguides and plasmonic antennas exploit the surface plasmon resonances to confine and enhance light down to the nanometre scale. The ability of plasmonics to achieve extreme light concentration unlocks an enormous potential to enhance fluorescence detection, FRET and FCS. Single molecule spectroscopy techniques greatly benefit from zero mode waveguides and plasmonic antennas to enter a new dimension of molecular concentration reaching physiological conditions. The application of nano-optics to biological problems with FRET and FCS is an emerging and exciting field, and is promising to reveal new insights on biological functions and dynamics.Comment: WIREs Nanomed Nanobiotechnol 201

Field enhancement in a circular aperture surrounded by a single channel groove

International audienceNumerical analysis of diffraction by a single aperture surrounded by a circular shallow channel in a metallic screen shows the possibility of a 50-fold increase of the electric field intensity inside the central aperture, when compared to the incident field. Detailed analysis of cavity modes and their coupling through surface plasmon wave determine the parameters leading to maximum field enhancement. This effect can be used in high-efficiency single-molecule fluorescence analysis in attoliter volumes

Pulsed homodyne measurements of femtosecond squeezed pulses generated by single-pass parametric deamplification

A new scheme is described for pulsed squeezed light generation using femtosecond pulses parametrically deamplified through a single pass in a thin (0.1mm) potassium niobate KNbO3 crystal, with a significant deamplification of about -3dB. The quantum noise of each individual pulse is registered in the time domain using a single-shot homodyne detection operated with femtosecond pulses and the best squeezed quadrature variance was measured to be 1.87 dB below the shot noise level. Such a scheme provides the basic ressource for time-resolved quantum communication protocols.Comment: Accepted for publication in Optics Letter

Ultraviolet Resonant Nanogap Antennas with Rhodium Nanocube Dimers for Enhancing Protein Intrinsic Autofluorescence

Plasmonic optical nanoantennas offer compelling solutions for enhancing light-matter interactions at the nanoscale. However, until now, their focus has been mainly limited to the visible and near-infrared regions, overlooking the immense potential of the ultraviolet (UV) range, where molecules exhibit their strongest absorption. Here, we present the realization of UV resonant nanogap antennas constructed from paired rhodium nanocubes. Rhodium emerges as a robust alternative to aluminum, offering enhanced stability in wet environments and ensuring reliable performance in the UV range. Our results showcase the nanoantenna ability to enhance the UV autofluorescence of label-free streptavidin and hemoglobin proteins. We achieve significant enhancements of the autofluorescence brightness per protein by up to 120-fold, and reach zeptoliter detection volumes enabling UV autofluorescence correlation spectroscopy (UV-FCS) at high concentrations of several tens of micromolar. We investigate the modulation of fluorescence photokinetic rates and report excellent agreement between experimental results and numerical simulations. This work expands the applicability of plasmonic nanoantennas into the deep UV range, unlocking the investigation of label-free proteins at physiological concentrations