Plasmonic quasicrystals with broadband transmission enhancement.

Plasmonic quasicrystals (PlQCs), by integrating the properties of quasicrystals (rotational symmetry and long range ordering but lack translational symmetry) and surface plasmon polariton mediated effects, offer several advantages over plasmonic crystals (PlCs). For example, in PlQCs one could have broadband, polarization independent response. However, large area patterning by electron beam lithography requires precise lattice coordinates as well as a practical way to design the structures for specific spectral response.

Probing Y-shaped DNA structure with time-resolved FRET.

Self-assembly based on nucleic acid systems has become highly attractive for bottom-up fabrication of programmable matter due to the highly selective molecular recognition property of biomolecules. In this context, Y-shaped DNA (Y-DNA) provides an effective building block for forming unique self-assembled large-scale architectures. The dimension and growth of the nano- and microstructures depend significantly on the configurational stability of Y-DNA as a building block.

Investigating the distance limit of a metal nanoparticle based spectroscopic ruler.

Conventional Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) processes involving a pair of fluorophore and organic quencher are restricted to an upper distance limit of ~10 nm. The application of a metal nanoparticle as a quencher can overcome the distance barrier of the traditional FRET technique. However, no standard distance dependence of this resonance energy transfer (RET) process has been firmly established.

Long Electron-Hole Separation of ZnO-CdS Core-Shell Quantum Dots.

The tunability of electronic and optical properties of semiconductor nanocrystal quantum dots (QDs) has been an important subject in nanotechnology. While control of the emission property of QDs in wavelength has been studied extensively, control of the emission lifetime of QDs has not been explored in depth. In this report, ZnO-CdS core-shell QDs were synthesized in a two-step process, in which we initially synthesized ZnO core particles, and then stepwise slow growth of CdS shells followed.