Toward Virus-Like Surface Plasmon Strain Sensors.

The strong configuration dependence of collective surface plasmon resonances in an array of metal nanoparticles provides an opportunity to develop a bioinspired tool for sensing mechanical deformations in soft matter at the nanoscale. We study the feasibility of a strain sensor based on an icosahedral array of nanoparticles encapsulated by a virus capsid. When the system undergoes deformation, the optical scattering cross-section spectra as well as the induced electric field profile change. By numerical simulations, we examine how these changes depend on the symmetry and extent of the deformation and on both the propagation direction and polarization of the incident radiation. Such a sensor could prove useful in studies of the mechanisms of nanoparticle or virus translocation in the confines of a host cell.