Sensitive biosensors using Fano resonance in single gold nanoslit with periodic grooves

Chip-based biosensors for sensitive label-free detection were fabricated and tested by using Fano-type resonant nanostructures. The sensor was composed of a 190nm-thick gold nanoslit surrounded by 600nm-period grooves. Transverse-magnetic polarized wave in these gold nanostructures generated asymmetrical resonant spectra due to the interference of broad-band cavity resonance in the single slit and narrow-band surface plasmon resonance on the periodic grooves. Compared to nanoslit arrays, such Fano-type sensor has a sharper resonance which yields a figure of merit up to 48. In addition, the crossed talk between sensing elements is reduced due to the Bragg reflection of the periodic grooves. A smaller detection separation down to 10 mu m width was achieved. An antigen-antibody interaction experiment in aqueous environment verified the detection sensitivity in surface binding event. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America