Photonic crystal development yields breakthrough in Raman spectroscopy

To describe a new substrate for use in surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS).

Novel SERS substrates have been produced by the nanometre‐scale patterning of gold surfaces on silicon. This forms photonic crystals which tightly control the physics of the surface enhanced Raman amplification process, producing consistent SERS signals.

It has been shown that these substrates can increase significantly the sensitivity and reproducibility of SERS.

These substrates will allow SERS to be used in critical applications requiring high sensitivity detection of chemical compounds such as security, forensics, healthcare and environmental monitoring.