Chapter 2
Surface Plasmons for Chiral Sensing
Sotiris Droulias and Lykourgos Bougas
Abstract Chiral sensitive techniques have been used to probe the fundamental symmetries of the universe, study biomolecular structures, and even develop safe drugs.
The traditional method for the measurement of chirality is through optical activity, however, chiroptical signals are inherently weak and often suppressed by large
backgrounds. Different techniques have been proposed to overcome the limitations
of traditionally used optical polarimetry, such as cavity- and/or nanophotonic-based
schemes. In this chapter we demonstrate how surface plasmon resonance can be
employed as a new research tool for chiral sensing, which we term here as CHIral
Surface Plasmon Resonance (CHISPR). We present how surface plasmons at a metalchiral interface are sensitive to the chirality parameter of the chiral medium and how
their properties can be exploited to reveal information not easily accessible using
standard polarimetric/nanophotonic approaches. We then present an experimental
realisation of CHISPR, an angle-resolved measurement scheme, and demonstrate
how can one detect the complete chirality (handedness and magnitude) of a chiral
sample while being also sensitive to both the real and imaginary part of a chiral
sample’s refractive index. We present analytical results and numerical simulations of
CHISPR measurements, predicting signals in the mdeg range for chiral samples of
<100 nm thickness at visible wavelengths. Finally, we present a theoretical analysis
that clarifies the underlying physics of the near-field chiral interactions and their
far-field manifestation. In overall, CHISPR builds upon the strengths of standard
SPR: does not require elaborate fabrication and has the advantage of being directly
implementable on existing SPR instrumentation, making it, thus, an ideal modality
for studying chirality dynamics on surfaces.
S. Droulias (B)
Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser, FORTH, 71110 Heraklion, Crete, Greece
e-mail: sdroulias@iesl.forth.gr
L. Bougas (B)
Institut für Physik, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, 55128 Mainz, Germany
e-mail: lybougas@uni-mainz.de
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
E. Kamenetskii (ed.), Chirality, Magnetism and Magnetoelectricity,
Topics in Applied Physics 138,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62844-4_2
25
Surface Plasmons for Chiral Sensing
Sotiris Droulias and Lykourgos Bougas
Abstract Chiral sensitive techniques have been used to probe the fundamental symmetries of the universe, study biomolecular structures, and even develop safe drugs.
The traditional method for the measurement of chirality is through optical activity, however, chiroptical signals are inherently weak and often suppressed by large
backgrounds. Different techniques have been proposed to overcome the limitations
of traditionally used optical polarimetry, such as cavity- and/or nanophotonic-based
schemes. In this chapter we demonstrate how surface plasmon resonance can be
employed as a new research tool for chiral sensing, which we term here as CHIral
Surface Plasmon Resonance (CHISPR). We present how surface plasmons at a metalchiral interface are sensitive to the chirality parameter of the chiral medium and how
their properties can be exploited to reveal information not easily accessible using
standard polarimetric/nanophotonic approaches. We then present an experimental
realisation of CHISPR, an angle-resolved measurement scheme, and demonstrate
how can one detect the complete chirality (handedness and magnitude) of a chiral
sample while being also sensitive to both the real and imaginary part of a chiral
sample’s refractive index. We present analytical results and numerical simulations of
CHISPR measurements, predicting signals in the mdeg range for chiral samples of
<100 nm thickness at visible wavelengths. Finally, we present a theoretical analysis
that clarifies the underlying physics of the near-field chiral interactions and their
far-field manifestation. In overall, CHISPR builds upon the strengths of standard
SPR: does not require elaborate fabrication and has the advantage of being directly
implementable on existing SPR instrumentation, making it, thus, an ideal modality
for studying chirality dynamics on surfaces.
S. Droulias (B)
Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser, FORTH, 71110 Heraklion, Crete, Greece
e-mail: sdroulias@iesl.forth.gr
L. Bougas (B)
Institut für Physik, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, 55128 Mainz, Germany
e-mail: lybougas@uni-mainz.de
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
E. Kamenetskii (ed.), Chirality, Magnetism and Magnetoelectricity,
Topics in Applied Physics 138,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62844-4_2
25