Optical properties of nucleobase thin films as studied by attenuated total reflection and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

Abstract Optical properties of nucleobase thin films were studied by attenuated total reflection (ATR) and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Adenine and guanine films were deposited on fused silica and silver at room temperature by thermal evaporation, and the normal dispersion of refractive indices of transparent adenine and guanine films in the visible and near-infrared regions were analyzed. The measured ATR spectra of adenine (guanine) films and numerical simulations by optical transfer matrix formalism demonstrate that the shift of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) wavelength is approximately linearly proportional to the adenine (guanine) film thickness, indicating that SPR can be used for quantitative measurements of biomaterials. The Raman spectra indicated that the adenine (guanine) films can be deposited by thermal evaporation. The adenine (guanine) films on silver exhibited Raman intensity enhancement as compared to those on glass, which was attributed to the SPR effect of silver platform and might play a role as a hot plate for SERS detection of biomaterials.