SPIE Optics and Photonics conference is held annually in San Diego in August with over 2,000 presentations and 48 conference tracks in three symposia encompassing Nanoscience (Advances in metamaterials, nanophotonic materials, plasmonics, quantum materials and devices, optical trapping, spintronics), Organic Photonics (organic-based materials and devices that advance renewable energy sources and other commercial applications) and Optical Engineering (Developments in optical design, optical alignment, testing, and fabrication, astronomical optics and instrumentation, photonic devices, particle technologies).
Silver and gold thin films coated on cover-slip normally act as substrates to excite surface plasmons with strong plasmonic resonances in both infrared and visible wavelengths. Gold films are usually preferred due to their high chemical stability, significant biocompatibility and affinity. In visible wavelengths, silver films provide much higher sensitivity (about 10 times) owing to sharper angular resonance than gold, silver has poor chemical stability and hence cannot be used as a stand-alone surface plasmon sensor in aqueous environment.
So, we proposed the use of bimetallic layers of gold (15 nm) and silver (35 nm) on the cover slip for cell culture and imaging of PC12 cells. Further, this configuration provides much better sensitivity (about 8 times) than singular gold films.
During the poster presentation, I interacted with many individuals starting from grad students, early career professionals, established researchers and eminent scientists from various parts of the world.
I participated in a number of social and Networking events including
Overall, I felt attending face-to-face conference is essential to imbibe new ideas and most importantly to network.
I am extremely thankful to Marubun Foundation for the travel support in attending the conference.
