Statistics of single molecule SERS signals: is there a Poisson distribution of intensities?

被引:51
作者
Etchegoin, P. G. [1 ]
Meyer, M. [1 ]
Le Ru, E. C. [1 ]
机构
[1] Victoria Univ Wellington, Sch Chem & Phys Sci, MacDiarmid Inst Adv Mat & Nanotechnol, Wellington, New Zealand
关键词
D O I
10.1039/b704013j
中图分类号
O64 [物理化学(理论化学)、化学物理学];
学科分类号
070304 ; 081704 ;
摘要
This paper is aimed at clarifying the statistics of single molecule (SM) surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) signals. The argument of the possible existence of a Poisson distribution in the statistics of intensities in SM-SERS has been used many times in the last decade as a proof of single molecule detection. We show theoretically and experimentally that the conditions under which a Poisson distribution would be present are so unlikely to exist in a real system that there is no other option but to attribute the claims to poor statistical sampling. We believe the argument based on Poisson statistics should be dropped as a proof of single molecule detection in SERS.
引用
收藏
页码:3006 / 3010
页数:5
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