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Katrin Kneipp

Publications and source records attributed to Katrin Kneipp.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

Two-photon vibrational spectroscopy for biosciences based on surface-enhanced hyper-Raman scattering.

Two-photon excitation is gaining rapidly in interest and significance in spectroscopy and microscopy. Here we introduce a new approach that suggests versatile optical labels suitable for both one- and two-photon excitation and also two-photon-excited ultrasensitive, nondestructive chemical probing. The underlying spectroscopic effect is the incoherent inelastic scattering of two photons on the vibrational quantum states called hyper-Raman scattering (HRS). The rather weak effect can be strengthened greatly if HRS takes place in the local optical fields of gold and silver nanostructures. This so-called surface-enhanced HRS (SEHRS) is the two-photon analogue to surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). SEHRS provides structurally sensitive vibrational information complementary to those obtained by SERS. SEHRS combines the advantages of two-photon spectroscopy with the structural information of vibrational spectroscopy and the high-sensitivity and nanometer-scale local confinement of plasmonics-based spectroscopy. We infer effective two-photon cross-sections for SEHRS on the order of 10(-46) to 10(-45) cm4 x s, similar to or higher than the best "action" cross-sections (product of the two-photon absorption cross-section and fluorescence quantum yield) for two-photon fluorescence, and we demonstrate HRS on biological structures such as single cells after incubation with gold nanoparticles.

Animals↗

Surface-enhanced Raman optical activity on adenine in silver colloidal solution.

We report the collection of Raman optical activity (ROA) spectra of adenine in silver colloidal solution, that is, surface-enhanced Raman optical activity (SEROA) using considerably shorter data acquisition times, reduced excitation power, and lower concentration, as compared to classical ROA measurements on molecules of biological interest so far reported in the literature. These improvements in experimental parameters for ROA measurements can be explained by enhanced Raman signals in the local optical fields of the silver nanoparticles and by at least 1 order of magnitude higher values for circular intensity differences (CIDs), as compared to classical ROA that has been suggested before and theoretically discussed in terms of large field gradients near a metal surface. The measured ROA effect for adenine can be understood in terms of adsorption-induced chirality in the prochiral molecules on the silver nanoparticles. Surface-enhanced Raman optical activity offers potential capabilities for sensitive, rapid, stereochemical characterization of basic building blocks of biopolymers, such as amino acids and nucleosides, as well as biologically active molecules, in particular, also for probing organization and self-assembling of such molecules on metal surfaces.

Adenine↗

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering in local optical fields of silver and gold nanoaggregates-from single-molecule Raman spectroscopy to ultrasensitive probing in live cells.

This Account discusses surface-enhanced Raman scattering at extremely high enhancement levels that can occur for molecules attached to silver and gold nanoclusters. Strongly enhanced and highly confined local optical fields enable surface-enhanced Stokes and anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy of single molecules even under nonresonant excitation conditions as well as extremely large effective cross sections in two-photon excited Raman spectroscopy. The ability for very sensitive and spatially confined molecular structural probing makes gold and silver nanoclusters very promising tools for studies of small structures in biological materials, such as cellular compartments.

Cells↗

In vivo molecular probing of cellular compartments with gold nanoparticles and nanoaggregates.

Surface-enhanced Raman (SERS) signatures were measured from single living cells at different times after the uptake of gold nanoparticles. The spectra are indicative of chemical changes in the environment of the nanostructures over time. The increase of the SERS signal strength and parallel TEM studies indicate the formation of nanoaggregates providing optimum SERS enhancement for ultrasensitive probing inside the endosomal compartment. The results have implications for medical and biotechnology applications of SERS nanosensors in cells.

Animals↗

SERS signals at the anti Stokes side of the excitation laser in extremely high local optical fields of silver and gold nanoclusters.

Surface-enhanced anti-Stokes Raman scattering from pumped excited vibrational levels and surface-enhanced hyper Raman scattering show a quadratic dependence on the excitation intensity and are discussed as incoherent two-photon excited Raman processes performed in strongly enhanced local optical fields of silver- or gold nanoclusters, where both effects can experience very similar electromagnetic enhancement conditions.

Gold↗

Optical probes for biological applications based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering from indocyanine green on gold nanoparticles.

We report surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) studies on indocyanine green (ICG) on colloidal silver and gold and demonstrate a novel optical probe for applications in living cells. In addition to its own detection by the characteristic ICG SERS signatures, the ICG gold nanoprobe delivers spatially localized chemical information from its biological environment by employing SERS in the local optical fields of the gold nanoparticles. The probe offers the potential to increase the spectral specificity and selectivity of current chemical characterization approaches of living cells and biomaterials based on vibrational information.

Animals↗

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering on single-wall carbon nanotubes.

Exploiting the effect of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), the Raman signal of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) can be enhanced by up to 14 orders of magnitude when the tubes are in contact with silver or gold nanostructures and Raman scattering takes place predominantly in the enhanced local optical fields of the nanostructures. Such a level of enhancement offers exciting opportunities for ultrasensitive Raman studies on SWNTs and allows resonant and non-resonant Raman experiments to be done on single SWNTs at relatively high signal levels. Since the optical fields are highly localized within so-called "hot spots" on fractal silver colloidal clusters, lateral confinement of the Raman scattering can be as small as 5 nm, allowing spectroscopic selection of a single nanotube from a larger population. Moreover, since SWNTs are very stable "artificial molecules" with a high aspect ratio and a strong electron-phonon coupling, they are unique "test molecules" for investigating the SERS effect itself and for probing the "electromagnetic field contribution" and "charge transfer contribution" to the effect. SERS is also a powerful tool for monitoring the "chemical" interaction between the nanotube and the metal nanostructure.

Carbon↗