Experimental study of a quad-band metamaterial-based plasmonic perfect absorber as a biosensor

Abstract

We present a metamaterial-based perfect absorber (PA) that strongly supports four resonances covering a wide spectral range from 1.8 mu m to 10 mu m of the electromagnetic spectrum. The designed perfect absorber has metal-dielectric-metal layers where a MgF2 spacer is sandwiched between an optically thick gold film and patterned gold nanoantennas. The spectral tuning of PA is achieved by calibrating the geometrical parameters numerically and experimentally. The manufactured quad-band plasmonic PA absorbs light close to the unity. Moreover, the biosensing capacity of the PA is tested using a 14 kDa S100A9 antibody, which is a clinically relevant biomarker for brain metastatic cancer cells. We utilize a UV-based photochemical immobilization technique for patterning of the antibody monolayer on a gold surface. Our results reveal that the presented PA is eligible for ultrasensitive detection of such small biomarkers in a point-of-care device to potentially personalize radiotherapy for patients with brain metastases.