Antonio Balena

Center for Biomolecular Nanotechnologies

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Co-Authors

Massimo De Vittorio

Center for Biomolecular Nanotechnologies

Ferruccio Pisanello

Center for Biomolecular Nanotechnologies

Filippo Pisano

Center for Biomolecular Nanotechnologies

Marco Pisanello

TiGenix (Spain)

Barbara Spagnolo

Center for Biomolecular Nanotechnologies

Marco Bianco

Center for Biomolecular Nanotechnologies

Leonardo Sileo

Center for Biomolecular Nanotechnologies

Bernardo L. Sabatini

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Liam Collard

Center for Biomolecular Nanotechnologies

Muhammad Fayyaz Kashif

Center for Biomolecular Nanotechnologies

Cooperative Institutions

Italian Institute of Technology

University of Salento

Center for Biomolecular Nanotechnologies

Istituto di Nanotecnologia

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Harvard University

Innovation Engineering (Italy)

Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Lecce

Istituto Nanoscienze

Polytechnic University of Bari

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High transmission from 2D periodic plasmonic finite arrays with sub-20 nm gaps realized with Ga focused ion beam milling

Nanotechnology (2020)

Filippo Pisano Antonio Balena Muhammad Fayyaz Kashif Marco Pisanello Gaia de Marzo

Plasmonic platforms are a promising solution for the next generation of low-cost, integrated biomedical sensors. However, fabricating these nanostructures often requires lengthy and challenging fabrication processes. Here we exploit the peculiar features of Focused Ion Beam milling to obtain single-step patterning of a plasmonic two-dimensional (2D) array of truncated gold nano-pyramids (TNP), with gaps as small as 17 nm. We describe the formation of plasmonic bandgaps in the arrangement of crossed tapered grooves that separate the nano-pyramids, and we demonstrate refractive index sensing via dark field imaging in patterned areas of 30 $μ$m $\times$ 30 $μ$m.

Extraordinary optical transmission

Nanophotonics

10.1088/1361-6528/aba57a

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Citations (15)

Recent Advances on High-Speed and Holographic Two-Photon Direct Laser Writing

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) (2023)

Antonio Balena Marco Bianco Ferruccio Pisanello Massimo De Vittorio

10.5281/zenodo.8112949

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Novel technologies to micro and nanostructure highly nonplanar optical fibers: from the micro to the sub-50 nm regime

Antonio Balena Marco Bianco Filippo Pisano Di Zheng Barbara Spagnolo

10.1117/12.2672220

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Raw data of manuscript "Tapered fibertrodes for opto-electrical neural interfacing in small brain volumes with reduced artefacts"

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) (2022)

Barbara Spagnolo Antonio Balena Rui T. Peixoto Marco Pisanello Leonardo Sileo

This dataset contains the raw data for the paper titled "Tapered fibertrodes for opto-electrical neural interfacing in small brain volumes with reduced artefacts".

Interfacing

10.5281/zenodo.6491111

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Spatially resolved plasmonic sensing at the tip of a multimode fiber

Liam Collard Filippo Pisano Di Zheng Antonio Balena Linda Piscopo

The ability to fabricate plasmonic structures on the distal facet of an optical fiber has led to a diverse range of minimally invasive sensors. However these applications have been hindered by the inherent turbidity of the fiber and complex transmission properties of the nanostructures. We propose to use a wavefront shaping technique to pre-shape light prior to transmission through the nanostructed fiber to control the coupling between the guided modes of the fiber and the plasmonic nanostructures. We show that the sensing resolution of a plasmonic fiber optic can achieve a sub-cellular spatial resolution in biological applications. In this work, a broad range of plasmonic structures are explored as candidates for spatially resolved plasmonic sensing including periodic nanostructures for extraordinary optical transmission and sub-diffraction beam formation as well as nanoislands fabricated by a solid-state dewetting procedure for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy.

Dewetting

10.1117/12.2668806

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Wavefront engineering for controlled structuring of far-field intensity and phase patterns from multimodal optical fibers

APL Photonics (2021)

Liam Collard Filippo Pisano Marco Pisanello Antonio Balena Massimo De Vittorio

Adaptive optics methods have long been used to perform complex light shaping at the output of a multimode fiber (MMF), with the specific aim of controlling the emitted beam in the near field and enabling the realization of a new generation of endoscopes based on a wide variety of spectroscopic techniques. Gaining control of other emission properties, including the far-field pattern and the phase of the generated beam, would open up the possibility for multimode fibers to act as miniaturized multi-beam steering components and to implement phase-encoded imaging and sensing. In this study, we employ phase modulation using a spatial light modulator at the input of a multimode fiber to generate multiple, low divergence rays with controlled angles and phase at the fiber output. Direct measurement of the output angle and the divergence and phase of the generated beams show how wavefront engineering can be employed to perform complex far-field structuring of the emission of a MMF.

Beam divergence

Spatial light modulator

Beam steering

Realization (probability)

10.1063/5.0044666

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Citations (17)

Ray tracing models for estimating light collection properties of microstructured tapered optical fibers for optical neural interfaces

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (2020)

Emanuela Maglie Marco Pisanello Filippo Pisano Antonio Balena Marco Bianco

ABSTRACT Tapered optical fibers (TFs) were recently employed for depth-resolved monitoring of functional fluorescence in sub-cortical brain structures, enabling light collection from groups of a few cells through small optical windows located on the taper edge [1]. Here we present a numerical model to estimate light collection properties of microstructured TFs implanted in scattering brain tissue. Ray tracing coupled with Henyey-Greenstein scattering model enables the estimation of both light collection and fluorescence excitation fields in three dimensions, whose combination is employed to retrieve the volume of tissue probed by the device.

Tracing

Brain tissue

10.1101/2020.05.07.083469

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Advanced Optoelectronic Devices for Neuroscience

Marco Pisanello Barbara Spagnolo Leonardo Sileo Filippo Pisano Antonio Balena

Advances in optogenetics and optical imaging techniques have progressively changed the approach used to record functional signals related to neural activity. Besides standard electrophysiology techniques, in the last 20 years the use of light sensitive molecular tools for triggering and monitoring brain functions increased the demand for the development of novel optoelectronic devices for light delivery, light collection, and electrical recording from the living brain. This goal can be achieved by combining different devices or integrating both optical and electrical elements on the same implantable probe. Here we review the latest advancements in this field with particular emphasis on fiber-based optrodes and non-planar manufacturing techniques.

Optical recording

Emphasis (telecommunications)

10.1109/icton51198.2020.9203538

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Nanostructured Fiber Optics for High Sensitivity, Minimally Invasive, Spatially-Resolved, Plasmonic Diagnosis and Therapeutics

Liam Collard Filippo Pisano Di Zheng Antonio Balena Muhammad Fayyaz Kashif

Plasmonic fiber optics have attracted considerable research interest from perspectives ranging from fundamental physics to biomedical optics. However, across all fields, researchers face two distinct but strongly connected challenges. First, a nanofabrication challenge: integrating nanostructures on a substrate fiber; second, a photonic problem: engineer the interaction between the plasmonic structures and the modal patterns of light propagation. In this work we aim to show how both state-of-the-art fabrication approaches and optical techniques may be used to resolve these issues for plasmonic endoscopy in both deep and shallow brain regions. By applying wavefront shaping, we show that either a sub-region or entire plasmonic structure on a flat fiber facet can be holographically activated. We have applied this method to a wide range of plasmonic structures including periodic nanostructures for EOT and sub-diffraction beam formation and nanoislands for Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS), resulting in a multifunctional plasmonic endoscope targeted at shallow brain regions. Alternatively, we show how a tapered optical fiber can also be used as a substrate of plasmonic structures targeted at detection of neurotransmitters in deep brain regions.

Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

10.1109/icton59386.2023.10207535

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Holographic Manipulation of Nanostructured Fiber Optics Enables Spatially‐Resolved, Reconfigurable Optical Control of Plasmonic Local Field Enhancement and SERS (Small 23/2022)

Small (2022)

Liam Collard Filippo Pisano Di Zheng Antonio Balena Muhammad Fayyaz Kashif

Plasmonics In article number 2200975, Liam Collard, Massimo De Vittorio, Ferruccio Pisanello, and co-workers use wavefront engineering to harness the resonant properties of plasmonic nanostructures on the tip of a multimode fiber and spotlight specific resonances across the dispersion diagram to enable spatially-resolved surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy and reconfigurable beam steering. [Cover image: artwork by Filippo Pisano].

Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

10.1002/smll.202270122

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