# Zero-mode waveguide
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{{Short description|Optical waveguide}}
A '''zero-mode waveguide''' is an [optical waveguide](/source/optical_waveguide) that guides light energy into a volume that is small in all dimensions compared to the [wavelength](/source/wavelength) of the light.
Zero-mode waveguides have been developed for rapid parallel sensing of [zeptolitre](/source/zeptolitre) sample volumes, as applied to [gene sequencing](/source/DNA_sequencing), by [Pacific Biosciences](/source/Pacific_Biosciences) (previously named Nanofluidics, Inc.)[
{{Cite book
| title = DNA sequencing: optimizing the process and analysis
| author = Jan Kieleczawa
| publisher = Jones & Bartlett Publishers
| year = 2004
| isbn = 978-0-7637-4782-4
| page = 190
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=23NGy0VuVUEC&q=zero-mode-waveguide&pg=PA190
}}]
A waveguide operated at frequencies lower than its [cutoff frequency](/source/cutoff_frequency) (wavelengths longer than its [cutoff wavelength](/source/cutoff_wavelength)) and used as a precision [attenuator](/source/Attenuator_(electronics)) is also known as a "waveguide below-cutoff attenuator."[
{{Cite journal
| doi = 10.1109/22.643852
| author = D. H. Russell
| journal = IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques
| title = The waveguide below-cutoff attenuation standard
| volume = 45
| issue = 12
| pages = 2408–2413
| date = Dec 1997
|bibcode = 1997ITMTT..45.2408R | s2cid = 6236996
| url = https://zenodo.org/record/1232142
}}]
The zero-mode waveguide is made possible by creating circular or rectangular nanoapertures using [focused ion beam](/source/focused_ion_beam) on an aluminium layer.[{{cite journal | last1=Baibakov | first1=Mikhail | last2=Barulin | first2=Aleksandr | last3=Roy | first3=Prithu | last4=Claude | first4=Jean-Benoît | last5=Patra | first5=Satyajit | last6=Wenger | first6=Jérôme | title=Zero-mode waveguides can be made better: fluorescence enhancement with rectangular aluminum nanoapertures from the visible to the deep ultraviolet | journal=Nanoscale Advances | volume=2 | issue=9 | date=1999-02-22 | doi=10.1039/D0NA00366B | pages=4153–4160 | pmid=36132755 | pmc=9417158 | bibcode=2020NanoA...2.4153B | doi-access=free }}]
The zero-mode waveguide can also enhance fluorescence signals due to surface plasmons generated at metal-dielectric interfaces.[{{Cite journal |last1=Baibakov |first1=Mikhail |last2=Barulin |first2=Aleksandr |last3=Roy |first3=Prithu |last4=Claude |first4=Jean-Benoît |last5=Patra |first5=Satyajit |last6=Wenger |first6=Jérôme |date=2020 |title=Zero-mode waveguides can be made better: fluorescence enhancement with rectangular aluminum nanoapertures from the visible to the deep ultraviolet |journal=Nanoscale Advances |language=en |volume=2 |issue=9 |pages=4153–4160 |doi=10.1039/D0NA00366B|pmid=36132755 |pmc=9417158 |bibcode=2020NanoA...2.4153B }}] Due to surface plasmon generation field is localized and enhanced as well as it changes the LDOS inside the cavity which leads to increase in Purcell Factor of analyte molecules inside the zero-mode waveguide[{{Cite journal |last1=Barulin |first1=Aleksandr |last2=Roy |first2=Prithu |last3=Claude |first3=Jean-Benoît |last4=Wenger |first4=Jérôme |date=2021-10-21 |title=Purcell radiative rate enhancement of label-free proteins with ultraviolet aluminum plasmonics |url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6463/ac1627 |journal=Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics |volume=54 |issue=42 |pages=425101 |doi=10.1088/1361-6463/ac1627 |arxiv=2107.06357 |bibcode=2021JPhD...54P5101B |s2cid=235829393 |issn=0022-3727}}]
The zero-mode waveguide is very useful for Ultraviolet Auto-fluorescence spectroscopy on tryptophan-carrying proteins like beta-galactosidase.[{{cite journal |last1=Barulin |first1=Aleksandr |last2=Claude |first2=Jean-Benoît |last3=Patra |first3=Satyajit |last4=Bonod |first4=Nicolas |last5=Wenger |first5=Jérôme |title=Deep Ultraviolet Plasmonic Enhancement of Single Protein Autofluorescence in Zero-Mode Waveguides |journal=Nano Letters |date=9 October 2019 |volume=19 |issue=10 |pages=7434–7442 |doi=10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b03137|pmid=31526002 |arxiv=1909.08227 |bibcode=2019NanoL..19.7434B |s2cid=202660648 }}] With further modification of the zero-mode waveguide with a conical reflector, it is possible to study the dynamic process of smaller proteins like streptavidin with 24 tryptophan.
,[{{cite journal |last1=Barulin |first1=Aleksandr |last2=Roy |first2=Prithu |last3=Claude |first3=Jean-Benoît |last4=Wenger |first4=Jérôme |title=Ultraviolet optical horn antennas for label-free detection of single proteins |journal=Nature Communications |date=5 April 2022 |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=1842 |doi=10.1038/s41467-022-29546-4|pmid=35383189 |pmc=8983662 |arxiv=2204.02807 |bibcode=2022NatCo..13.1842B |doi-access=free }}]
The modified zero-mode waveguide with a conical reflector can be further optimized to enhance the [signal-to-noise ratio](/source/signal-to-noise_ratio) and reach the ultimate sensitivity of single tryptophan proteins like TNase.[{{cite journal |last1=Roy |first1=Prithu |last2=Claude |first2=Jean-Benoît |last3=Tiwari |first3=Sunny |last4=Barulin |first4=Aleksandr |last5=Wenger |first5=Jérôme |title=Ultraviolet Nanophotonics Enables Autofluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy on Label-Free Proteins with a Single Tryptophan |journal=Nano Letters |date=5 January 2023 |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=497–504 |doi=10.1021/acs.nanolett.2c03797|pmid=36603115 |arxiv=2301.01516 |bibcode=2023NanoL..23..497R |s2cid=255416119 }}]
==See also==
* [Single-molecule real-time sequencing](/source/Single-molecule_real-time_sequencing)
* [Evanescent field](/source/Evanescent_field)
==References==
Category:Biophysics
Category:Physical optics
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{{biophysics-stub}}
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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Zero-mode waveguide](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-mode_waveguide) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-mode_waveguide?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.