ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the optical properties of nanohole and microhole arrays will be detailed in the context of biosensing. Since their first report in 1998 (Ebbesen, T. W.; Lezec, H. J.; Ghaemi, H. F.; Thio, T.; Wolff, P. A. Nature 1998, 391, 667), nanohole arrays have matured into a versatile plasmonic substrate for several applications in sensing and in surface-enhanced Raman scattering or metal-enhanced fluorescence spectroscopies. Among the current nanoplasmonic materials available, nanohole arrays are one of the most sensitive and thus highly suited for refractive index-based biosensing. The several applications of nanohole arrays in bioanalytical sensing will be detailed in this chapter. Hole arrays with larger periodicities in the order of micrometers will also be discussed as these microhole arrays have been implemented in classical surface plasmon resonance instruments for enhanced sensitivity and for combined plasmonic sensing and surface-enhanced spectroscopies.
