Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)

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How Raman Spectroscopy Is Transforming Biomedicine and Microbiology

June 24th 2025

A multinational research team explores Raman spectroscopy's expanding role in medicine and microbiology, revealing its powerful potential in diagnostics, drug analysis, and microbial classification.

Yukihiro Ozaki
Tip-enhanced Raman Scattering using a Chemically-modified Tip

June 9th 2025

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New Insight into Brain Peptide Dynamics Unlocked by Advanced Spectroscopy

June 4th 2025

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Machine Learning Accelerates Clinical Progress of SERS Technology

May 22nd 2025

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New SERS Platform Enhances Real-Time Detection of Cardiovascular Drugs in Blood

May 13th 2025

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Recording the Raman Spectrum of a Single Molecule

Recording the Raman Spectrum of a Single Molecule

September 2nd 2021

Analytical chemists are continually striving to advance techniques to make it possible to observe and measure matter and processes at smaller and smaller scales. Professor Vartkess Ara Apkarian and his team at the University of California, Irvine have made a significant breakthrough in this quest: They have recorded the Raman spectrum of a single azobenzene thiol molecule. The approach, which breaks common tenets about surface-enhanced Raman scattering/spectroscopy (SERS) and tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS), involved imaging an isolated azobenzene thiol molecule on an atomically flat gold surface, then picking it up and recording its Raman spectrum using an electrochemically etched silver tip, in an ultrahigh vacuum cryogenic scanning tunneling microscope. For the resulting paper detailing the effort [1], Apkarian and his associates are the 2021 recipients of the William F. Meggers Award, given annually by the Society for Applied Spectroscopy to the authors of the outstanding paper appearing in the journal Applied Spectroscopy. We spoke to Apkarian about this research, and what being awarded this honor means to him and his team. This interview is part of an ongoing series with the winners of awards that are presented at the annual SciX conference. The award will be presented to Apkarian at this fall’s event, which will be held in person in Providence, Rhode Island, September 28–October 1.