1. Identify the principle behind Surface Plasmon Resonance.

Surface Plasmon Resonance is a phenomenon that occurs when polarized light hits a
metal film at the interface of media with different refractive indices. Resonance occurs when
the molecules absorb incident light. Therefore, the energy and momentum of incident photons
will be equal to the energy and momentum of the surface plasmons. At resonance, a part of the
incident light is transferred to the evanescent wave leading to a decrease in intensity of the
reflected light.
2. Interpret the principle behind Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering.
Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is an extension of Raman spectroscopy,
where metallic nanostructures are used to enhance the intensity of Raman scattering. This can
substantially improve the limit of detection and allows very small concentration of substances
to be detected and identified. This means that SERS has potential applications in various fields
from analytical chemistry to environmental monitoring and forensic sciences. Raman spectra
is acquired as result of irradiation of sample with a powerful laser source of visible or near IR
monochromatic radiation. During the irradiation, the spectrum of scattered radiation is
measured with a suitable spectrophotometer.
3. Define a dielectric.
A dielectric is an electrical insulator that can be polarized by an applied electric field. When a
dielectric is placed in an electric field, electric charges do not flow through the material as they
do in an electrical conductor but only slightly shift from their average equilibrium positions
causing dielectric polarization.
Examples include porcelain (ceramic), mica, glass, plastics, and the oxides of various metals.
Some liquids and gases can serve as good dielectric materials. Dry air is an excellent dielectric,
and is used in variable capacitors and some types of transmission lines. A vacuum is an efficient
dielectric.
4. Define Plasmon and classify the different types of plasmons.
A plasmon is a quantum for the collective oscillation of free electrons , usually at the interface
between (noble) metals and dielectrics. The term plasmon refers to the plasma-like behaviour
of the free electrons in a metal under the influence of electromagnetic radiation.
TYPES OF PLASMONS:
Volume plasmons: Volume plasmons are the most fundamental and intrinsic type of plasmon
resonance that can be supported by a metal. These resonances occur at the plasma frequency
of metals, which are transparent to radiation with higher frequencies and non-transparent to
radiation with lower frequencies. The plasma frequency primarily depends on the electron
density.
Surface Plasmon Polaritons (SPPs): At the interface between a metal and a dielectric,
propagating solutions of Maxwell’s equations exist, which are so-called surface plasmon
polaritons (SPPs). These collective oscillations of the free electrons in the metal make up
dispersive longitudinal waves that propagate along the interface and decay exponentially into
both media with typical decay lengths of a few tens of nanometers in the metal and up to several
hundreds of nanometers in the dielectric (depending on the resonant wavelength).
Localized Surface Plasmon Resonances (LSPRs): Localized surface plasmon resonances
(LSPRs) are the non-propagating counterpart of SPPs, which can be excited in nanometer-sized
subwavelength metallic particles . The free electron cloud of the nanostructure can be
resonantly excited by EM fields due to enhanced polarizabilities of the particles at certain
frequencies. These enhanced polarizabilities give rise to strongly enhanced near fields close to
the metal surface, which are often referred to as hot spots.
5. Examine the significance of SPR in biodetection with suitable diagram.

Particle amplified SPR is used for the detection of DNA. DNA sequence 1 is attached to a thin
gold film evaporated onto a glass slide. The analyte sequence S2 binds to the surface, resulting
in a very small shift in the SPR response. A large shift was observed upon the binding of
sequence S3 attached to Au nanoparticle amplification tags.
6. Compare and contrast between elastic and inelastic scattering.
When a photon is incident on the molecules present in the ground state, it absorbs the energy
of the photon and moves to the excited state. The excited state is an unstable state and the
molecules gets relaxed back to its ground state by the scattering of incident light. When the
wavelength of the incident light and the scattered light are same, it is called Elastic or Rayleigh
scattering. When there is a change in wavelength between the incident and scattered light, then
it is called Inelastic or Raman scattering.
7. List the different types of Raman Scattering.
When the frequency of incident radiation is higher than frequency of scattered radiation, then
it is called Stokes lines in Raman spectrum. Similarly, when the frequency of incident radiation
is lower than frequency of scattered radiation, it is called anti-Stokes lines in Raman spectrum.
Resonance occurs when the molecules in the ground state are excited to the electronic state and
returns back to the ground state having a frequency of incident radiation higher than that of the
frequency of scattered radiation .
8. Outline the limitations of Raman Spectroscopy.
i. Raman scattering has the extremely small scattering cross section (typically of 10-30
cm2/molecule), which is 12~14 orders of magnitude below fluorescence cross sections.
Therefore, the sensitivity of the Raman spectroscopy technique is insufficient for the
precise characterization of the dynamic processes of monolayer adsorption.
ii. Raman spectra provide narrower bandwidths and a much greater complexity as
compared to fluorescence spectra.
9. Infer how the sensitivity of Raman Scattering can be enhanced.
One potential means of enhancing the sensitivity of raman scattering is to apply a novel
scattering process based on the excitation of both the surface plasmons (SPs) and the particle
plasmons (PPs). If a Raman active molecule is attached to a thin metal surface, it is acted upon
by the enhanced electromagnetic (EM) field induced by the excitation of SPs and PPs. Hence,
the molecule is excited to higher vibrational or rotational states, and its ejected light wave is
enhanced as a result. Therefore, the corresponding Raman signal is also greatly enhanced. This
phenomenon is referred to as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). It has been shown
that SERS devices using localized SPs (LSPs) on a roughened metal surface or PPs on metal
nanoparticles deliver a significant enhancement of 104-106. It is noted that this degree of
enhancement is far greater than that achieved when using SPs on a smooth metal film. SERS
enables the Raman scattering technique to detect single molecules adsorbed on a metal surface.
The band characteristics (i.e. intensity and frequency) of the Raman shift spectrum are of a
very high quality and contain detailed information regarding the protein composition and
conformation and about the post-translational modification.
10.Analyze the application of Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering in
biodetection with suitable diagram.
SERS immunoassay. Amplification tags comprised of Au nanoparticles coated with
both small molecule Raman tags and antibodies for selective biorecognition of
analyte.Sandwich immunoassays were probed by SERS.