DNA origami nanotools for nanophotonics

The field of nanophononics is primarily concerned with manipulating light at the nanoscale. The key elements in this field are optical antennas [1], which represent the counterparts of radio and microwave antennas within the visible spectrum. These antennas are mostly built from metallic nanoparticles whose localized surface plasmon resonances enable the control of light fields in the sub-wavelength range. Currently, optical antennas are being studied for a wide range of applications such as optical communications, light harvesting, enhanced spectroscopies and sensing.
In this talk, we will focus on an alternative bottom-up self-assembly approach for the fabrication of optical antennas based on colloidal metallic nanoparticles: the DNA origami technique [2]. We will show how this method can outperform top-down fabricated optical antennas. In addition, we will also study how DNA origami based optical antennas can enhance fluorescence [3,4], direct emission [5], shift the apparent emission center [6] and be combined with graphene [7], natural light harvesting complexes [8] and lithographic structures [9].

References
[1]   Novotny, L.; Van Hulst, N. Nat. Photonics 2011, 5 (2), 83–90.
[2]   Rothemund, P. W. K. Nature. 2006, pp 297–302.
[3]   Acuna, G. P.; Möller, F. M.; Holzmeister, P.; Beater, S.; Lalkens, B.; Tinnefeld, P. Science (80-. ). 2012, 338    (6106), 506–510.
[4]   Puchkova, A.; Vietz, C.; Pibiri, E.; Wünsch, B.; Sanz Paz, M.; Acuna, G. P.; Tinnefeld, P. Nano Lett. 2015, 15(12), 8354–8359.
[5]   Hübner, K.; Pilo-Pais, M.; Selbach, F.; Liedl, T.; Tinnefeld, P.; Stefani, D.; Acuna, G.P. Nano Lett. 2019 (under review).
[6]   Raab, M.; Vietz, C.; Stefani, F. D.; Acuna, G. P.; Tinnefeld, P. Nat. Commun. 2017, 8 (1), 13966.
[7]   Kaminska, I.; Bohlen, J.; Rocchetti, S.; Selbach, F.; Acuna, G. P.; Tinnefeld, P. Nano Lett. 2019.
[8]   Kaminska, I.; Bohlen, J.; Mackowski, S.; Tinnefeld, P.; Acuna, G. P. ACS Nano 2018, 12 (2), 1650–1655.
[9]   Pibiri, E.; Holzmeister, P.; Lalkens, B.; Acuna, G. P.; Tinnefeld, P. Nano Lett. 2014, 14 (6), 3499–3503.