Plasmonic Photothermal Fluorescence Modulation for Homogeneous Biosensing

Fluorescence readout is uniquely powerful for biological assays and imaging because it combines the detection of specific biotargets with high spatial and temporal resolution. Recently, several strategies for the modulation in time of fluorescence emission have been proven useful to separate the target signal from constant background contributions. Here, we investigate the emission modulation of organic fluorophores located in the nanometric vicinity of plasmonically heated gold nanorods and apply it to a novel, all-optical homogeneous biosensing scheme. The combination of plasmonic heating and temperature sensitive molecular fluorescence enables the robust quantification of surface reactions.