The objective of this project is to study the confinement of light in nanometric apertures in a metal film, the change of the transmission properties for very small changes in the refractive index inside the holes, and the subsequent development and fabrication of a device that serves to visualize singe DNA molecules, stretched in a channel and assembled into the nanohles, withouth fluorescent markers. For this, during the first stage (2 years in Berkeley), the fellow will study theoretically the system, will fabricate the devices, and study the transmission of light trhough single nanometric holes using the capabilities of the host group for optical characterization of nanostructures. Then, the sensitivity to the presence of DNA will be evaluated, by measuring the changes after specific hybridization inside the holes. The introduction of single nanoparticles (fluorescent or metallic) in the holes will be studied. During the reintegration stage (1 year in Copenhagen), the fellow will integrate the structures as part of a micro/nano fluidic device, for stretching and assembling of DNA single molecules into the pits, and develope the methodology to measure the change in the transmission trough the holes (when filled) to enable lable free visualization of the strands.