In recent times, biomolecular sensing to recognize genetic fragments and proteins is spurring unprecedented interest as a diagnostic protocol for cancer and infectious diseases. Significant efforts have been made to design nanomaterials able to control the light–matter interaction at the single nanometer scale, where genes and proteins bind specifically to receptors. Here, we numerically show how the interface between a chiral metasurface and hyperbolic metamaterials can enable both high sensitivity and specificity for low-molecular-weight nucleic acids and proteins. As we have recently reported, hyperbolic dispersion metamaterials allow molecular biorecognition with extreme sensitivity because of coupled and highly confined plasmon polaritons. Specificity is almost exclusively achieved by receptor–ligand interaction at the in-plane sensing surface. Interestingly, an adapted out-of-plane chiral metasurface enables three key functionalities of the hyperbolic metamaterial sensor. Computational effort reveals that helicoidal metasurfaces can act as (i) efficient diffractive elements to excite surface and bulk plasmon polaritons; (ii) out-of-plane sensing branches to reduce the diffusion limit and increase the sensing surface; and (iii) biorecognition assay also via circular dichroism and chiral selectivity.

中文翻译：

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在手性超表面和双曲线超材料之间的界面的生物分子传感。

近年来，用于识别遗传片段和蛋白质的生物分子传感正引起人们前所未有的兴趣，将其作为癌症和传染病的诊断方法。已经做出了巨大的努力来设计能够在单个纳米尺度上控制光与物质相互作用的纳米材料，其中基因和蛋白质特异性地与受体结合。在这里，我们用数字显示手性超表面材料和双曲线超材料之间的界面如何使低分子量核酸和蛋白质既具有高灵敏度又具有特异性。正如我们最近报道的那样，由于耦合和高度受限的等离激元极化子，双曲线弥散超材料使分子生物识别具有极高的灵敏度。特异性几乎完全是通过平面内感应表面上的受体-配体相互作用来实现的。有趣的是，经过改造的平面外手性超颖表面实现了双曲线超材料传感器的三个关键功能。计算工作表明，螺旋形超表面可以作为（i）激发表面和整体等离激元极化子的有效衍射元素；（ii）平面外感测分支，以减少扩散极限并增加感测表面；（iii）还通过圆二色性和手性选择性进行生物识别测定。（ii）平面外感测分支，以减少扩散极限并增加感测表面；（iii）还通过圆二色性和手性选择性进行生物识别测定。（ii）平面外感测分支，以减少扩散极限并增加感测表面；（iii）还通过圆二色性和手性选择性进行生物识别测定。