Chiral plasmonic metasurface assembled by DNA origami

Area of Science:

• Photonics and Materials Science
• Nanotechnology and Nanofabrication

Background:

• Chiral materials are crucial for photonic devices controlling light helicity, but natural materials exhibit weak chirality, requiring thick films.
• Artificial photonic materials offer enhanced chiral responses, with metasurfaces ideally providing significant effects in a single layer.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and investigate the fabrication of a chiral metasurface using DNA origami technology, a scalable bottom-up approach.
• To design and simulate a chiral plasmonic metamolecule (tripod) and its assembly into a 2D crystal for metasurface applications.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing scaffolded DNA origami technology for bottom-up fabrication of metamolecules.
• Designing a chiral plasmonic metamolecule in a tripod shape and simulating its optical properties.
• Assembling metamolecules onto a planar origami scaffold to form a 2D DNA origami crystal (chiral metasurface).

Main Results:

• Simulated optical properties of the chiral plasmonic metamolecule and the assembled metasurface.
• Demonstrated the potential for significant chiral response from a single-layer metasurface.
• Assessed the experimental feasibility of the proposed DNA origami-based fabrication approach.

Conclusions:

• DNA origami technology provides a scalable bottom-up method for fabricating chiral metasurfaces.
• The proposed chiral plasmonic metamolecule and its assembly offer a promising route for advanced photonic devices.
• This approach overcomes limitations of natural chiral materials and traditional top-down nanofabrication.