Raman spectroscopy is a widely researched and known technique used to identify unknown compounds. However, Raman scattering itself is very weak, and in order to increase scattering, Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) can be used.  We propose herein a SERS substrate composed of a periodic array of silver, triangular `nanoposts' (TNPs) that support localized and propagating surface plasmons as a means to enhance both the incident and scattered light, thereby increasing the Raman signal. The focus of our work is the modeling of the interactions of light with these arrays and the optimization of the TNPs with respect to post height, size, and periodicity using three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) calculations.  We present an approximately 100x increase in the SERS response of TNPs over similarly sized, cylindrical NPs.

In silico optimization of silver triangular nanopost SERS substrates

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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