Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is a spectroscopic technique used to enhance the intensity of the Raman signal by the amplification of the electromagnetic field of the incident and/or scattered light with metallic nanoantennas. The amplification can reach even 5-6 orders of magnitude resulting in highly sensitive and fast Raman detection. SERS requires nanoantennas (realized in the form of gold or silver nanoparticles or nanostructures of various shape and size) resonantly tuned to the energy of incident and/or scattered photons. The amplification is limited to the close vicinity of the nanoantennas, therefore, SERS requires close contact or even adsorption of the sample on their surface. With its proven single-molecule detection capabilities SERS is widely used in trace material analysis, forensics, medical diagnostics, food and water quality control, detection of explosives, viruses, bacteria and other dangerous materials.