Fano-like spectral features in nanodiamond solutions for biometric applications

Abstract

Fano resonance is a unique feature of interacting quantum systems, exhibiting resonance shapes distinctively different from conventional symmetric resonance curves. Recently, Fano resonances have been found in plasmonic nanoparticles, photonic crystals, and electromagnetic metamaterials. Here we report Fano-like photoluminiscence curves in nanodiamond solutions as a result of incoherent combination of two or more scattering and fluorescence processes. We argue that, analogously to Fano resonances, the steep asymmetric dispersion of the photoluminiscence profile in nanodiamond solutions, in combination with biologically-compatible spectral features characterizing nanodiamond fluorescence, can find promising biometric applications in several areas such as bio-sensors, bio-switches and bio-filters.