Dynamic plasmonics-enabled signal enhancement, a device comprising the same, and a method using the same

1. A plasmonics platform, comprising:

a substrate;

a plurality of periodically spaced nanoholes and/or nanoparticles disposed upon the substrate, wherein an average first order of periodicity between the nanoholes and/or the nanoparticles is about 5 to about 1,000 nanometers; and

a microelectromechanical and/or a nanoelectromechanical system in operative communication with the substrate for varying the average first order of periodicity between the nanoholes and/or the nanoparticles.

2. The platform of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises a ferroelectric material.

3. The platform of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises a ferroelectric ceramic material.

4. The platform of claim 2 , wherein the ferroelectric material comprises barium titanate, lead titanate, lead zirconate titanate, tri-glycine sulfate, guanidinium aluminum sulfate hexahydrate, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing ferroelectric materials.

5. The platform of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises a thin film, a thick polycrystalline film, or a single crystal.

6. The platform of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises a metal oxide.

7. The platform of claim 6 , wherein the metal oxide is silicon dioxide, aluminum oxide, titanium oxide, zirconium oxide, cerium oxide, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing metal oxides.

8. The platform of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises quartz.

9. The platform of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises a metal film disposed upon the substrate.

10. The platform of claim 8 , wherein the metal film comprises gold, silver, platinum, palladium, lead, iron, nickel, copper, titanium, chromium, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing metals.

11. The platform of claim 8 , wherein the metal film comprises gold or silver.

12. The platform of claim 1 , wherein the nanoholes can have a cross-sectional area that is triangular, square, circular, rectangular, polygonal, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing geometries.

13. The platform of claim 1 , wherein the nanoparticles have a regular two-dimensional shape, wherein the two-dimensional shape is a square, a triangle, a circle, a rectangle, a polygon, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing two-dimensional shapes; or wherein the nanoparticles have a regular three-dimensional shape that is cuboid, pyramidal, a spherical, a hemispherical, fullerene, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing three-dimensional shapes.

14. The platform of claim 1 , wherein the microelectromechanical system and/or the nanoelectromechanical system is in thermal, mechanical, fluid, electrical, magnetic or electromagnetic communication with the plasmonics platform.

15. The platform of claim 14 , wherein the microelectromechanical system and/or the nanoelectromechanical system comprises a piezoelectric crystal, and wherein an application of an electrical current to the piezoelectric crystal facilitates a change in the periodicity of the nanohole arrays or the periodicity of nanoparticles.

16. A device, comprising:

a light source;

a plasmonics platform for receiving biomolecules whose structures are desired to be known, wherein the plasmonics platform comprises:

a substrate;

a plurality of periodically spaced nanoholes and/or nanoparticles disposed upon the substrate, wherein an average first order of periodicity between the nanoholes and/or the nanoparticles is about 5 to about 1,000 nanometers; and

a microelectromechanical and/or a nanoelectromechanical system in operative communication with the substrate for varying the average first order of periodicity between the nanoholes and/or the nanoparticles; and

a detector for receiving fluorescence generated by the biomolecules.

17. The device of claim 16 , wherein the light source is a broadband source of light.

18. The device of claim 16 , wherein the light source is a gas discharge lamp, a gas arced pulsed lamp, an incandescent lamp, a light emitting diode, a laser diode, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing light sources.

19. The device of claim 18 , wherein the gas discharge lamps are mercury lamps, sodium vapor lamps, xenon lamps, mercury-xenon lamps, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing gas discharge lamps.

20. The device of claim 16 , wherein the microelectromechanical system and/or the nanoelectromechanical system is in thermal, mechanical, fluid, electrical, magnetic or electromagnetic communication with the plasmonics platform.

21. The device of claim 16 , comprising a band pass filter and/or a high pass filter.

22. The device of claim 16 , wherein the detector comprises a photomultiplier tube.

23. The device of claim 16 , wherein the plasmonics platform comprises a plurality of plasmonics platforms each one of which is in communication with a microfluidics device, and a digital video disk Demuxer.

24. A method, comprising:

disposing an unknown specimen on a plasmonics platform, wherein the plasmonics platform comprises:

a substrate;

a plurality of periodically spaced nanoholes and/or nanoparticles disposed upon the substrate; wherein an average first order of periodicity between the nanoholes and/or the nanoparticles is about 5 to about 1,000 nanometers; and

a microelectromechanical and/or a nanoelectromechanical system in operative communication with the substrate for varying the average first order of periodicity between the nanoholes and/or the nanoparticles;

illuminating the plasmonics platform with a source light;

tuning the plasmonics platform by adjusting the average first order of periodicity between the nanoholes and/or the nanoparticles using the microelectromechanical and/or a nano electromechanical system;

producing surface plasmon resonance in the periodically spaced nanoholes and/or the nanoparticles disposed upon the substrate; and

producing fluorescence in the unknown specimen disposed upon the plasmonics platform.

25. The method of claim 24 , comprising receiving the fluorescence in a detector.