Abstract

Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) is a technique whereby the molecule under investigation is adsorbed on a metallic structure, typically made of silver. Raman signals are amplified through an interaction between the pump light and the surface plasmons propagating in the metal.¹ Gratings are better suited to couple light into the surface plasmon modes owing to momentum conservation conditions.² Opalline structures are made of a closed pack, fee arrangement of silica spheres with a precise control over the pitch and hence the gratings’ depth. Coupling into surface plasmon modes of these two-dimensional structures should therefore, show a significant enhancement to specific vibrational lines.

© 2001 Optical Society of America