ABSTRACT
Althoughmetallic nanostructures have widely been used to enhance
spectroscopic signals of molecules placed very close to the nano-
structures, relatively large losses in metals impose some limit in
their applications, in particular, in the fluorescence spectroscopy.
In recent years, nonmetallic nanostrucures made of low-loss
materials have attracted much interest to further extend enhanced
spectroscopies. This chapter is aimed to give an overview of the
near-field enhancement brought by nonmetalic nanostructures. On
the basis of Mie theory, the near-field enhancement brought by a
spherical nonmetallic nanoparticle is first discussed. Experimental
results demonstrating the Raman and fluorescence enhancement
brought by GaP nanoparticles are also presented.
