Ricerc@Sapienza

Sensors using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) are established as themethod of choice in label-free optical biosensing.
Their sensitivity for small refractive index changes at the surface originates from the enhanced evanescent
field at the surface of a thin metal layer. However, the small number of well-suited metals (Ag, Au) with
fixed optical constants limits a further refinement of the SPR performance in terms of dispersion and resonance
width. An alternative can be found in Bloch SurfaceWaves (BSW) sustained at specially designed dielectricmultilayer

The mutual interaction between environment and life is a main topic of biological sciences. An interesting aspect of this interaction is the existence of biological rhythms spanning all the levels of organisms from bacteria to humans. On the other hand, the existence of a coupling between external oscillatory stimuli and adaptation and evolution rate of biological systems is a still unexplored issue.

Electron spin resonance (ESR) is a spectroscopic method that allows to measure stable radicals induced by ionizing radiation. The EPR measurements can help to estimate the dose absorbed by people exposed during a nuclear disaster, detecting the number of radicals induced in their mobile phones due to the exposition [1]. Using conventional closed microwave cavities, the phone display must be fragmented in order to be introduced inside the resonator, becoming no more usable.