Persistent misconceptions regarding SERS

Abstract

SERS is some 35 years old, and the subject of over 11 000 articles. The field of Plasmonics, and large aspects of Metamaterials are clearly based on concepts that became current as a result of SERS. Despite this, a number of persistent, fuzzy ideas about the origin of the enhancement in SERS continue to be current even among SERS researchers, leading to the external impression that SERS is uniquely poorly understood. Six such ideas are discussed.