Surface-enhanced infrared absorption studies towards a new optical biosensor

• Lothar Leidner,
• Julia Stäb,
• Jennifer T. Adam and
• Günter Gauglitz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1736–1742, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.166

• results are compared with a similar experiment performed with an ATR (attenuated total reflectance) set-up. Keywords: attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR); direct optical sensing; mid-infrared regime (MIR); reflectometric interference spectroscopy; surface

• markers for many diseases. Optical biosensors are used in basic research and life science, for example, to study protein–protein interactions [1][2]. A subfield of optical biosensors are those operated through direct optical detection. Direct optical sensing relates to the detection of analyte molecules

• thin films. Results and Discussion Reflectometric interference spectroscopy in the mid-infrared Reflectometric interference spectroscopy (RIfS) is a well-established sensor concept for direct optical sensing in the visible wavelength region of the electromagnetic spectrum. It can be used both as a