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Plasmonic tip for nano Raman microcopy: structures, materials, and enhancement

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Abstract

Tip-enhanced Raman scattering (TERS) microscopy is becoming an important tool for analyzing advanced nanomaterials and nanodevices because of its high spatial resolution and high sensitivity. However, despite the decade’s efforts since its invention, strong Raman enhancement is still not always reproducible. Here, Author discusses two aspects in plasmonic metal tips to achieve efficient Raman enhancement. The first is the tip structure whose plasmonic properties directly affect the scattering efficiency and thus the enhancement. The second is the plasmonic tip for deep ultraviolet (DUV), with which TERS signal can be further enhanced by incorporating the resonance Raman effect. The materials for DUV-TERS tips are shown. With the efficient tip structures and materials, nano Raman imaging with TERS microscopy becomes more reliable as it should inherently be, bringing TERS microscopy to higher levels as a nanoanalysis tool useful for everyone.

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Taguchi, A. Plasmonic tip for nano Raman microcopy: structures, materials, and enhancement. Opt Rev 24, 462–469 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10043-017-0317-z

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