METAL-ENHANCED BIOLUMINESCENCE: AN APPROACH FOR MONITORING BIOLOGICAL BIOLUMINESCENT PROCESSES

摘要

The present invention relates to surface plasmon-coupled bioluminescence, wherein bioluminescent emission from a bioluminescent chemical reaction couples to surface plasmons in metallized particles thereby enhancing the signal. Importantly, these plasmonic emissions emitted from metallic particles generated without an external excitation source but instead from induced electronically excited states caused by the bioluminescent chemical reaction.