Enhanced photoluminescence

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9851618-B1
Application number	US-201615193271-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jun 27, 2016
Priority date	Jun 27, 2016
Publication date	Dec 26, 2017
Grant date	Dec 26, 2017

Abstract

Described embodiments include a plasmonic apparatus and method. The plasmonic apparatus includes a substrate having a first negative-permittivity layer comprising a first plasmonic surface. The plasmonic apparatus includes a plasmonic nanoparticle having a base with a second negative-permittivity layer comprising a second plasmonic surface. The plasmonic apparatus includes a dielectric-filled gap between the first plasmonic surface and the second plasmonic surface. The plasmonic apparatus includes a plasmonic cavity created by an assembly of the first plasmonic surface, the second plasmonic surface, and the dielectric-filled gap, and having a spectrally separated first fundamental resonant cavity wavelength λ 1 and second fundamental resonant cavity wavelength λ 2 . The plasmonic apparatus includes a plurality of fluorescent particles located in the dielectric-filled gap. Each fluorescent particle of the plurality of fluorescent particles having an absorption spectrum including the first fundamental resonant cavity wavelength λ 1 and an emission spectrum including the second fundamental resonant cavity wavelength λ 2 .

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A plasmonic apparatus comprising:
a substrate having a first negative-permittivity layer comprising a first plasmonic surface;
a plasmonic nanoparticle having a base with a second negative-permittivity layer comprising a second plasmonic surface;
a dielectric-filled gap between the first plasmonic surface and the second plasmonic surface;
a plasmonic cavity created by an assembly of the first plasmonic surface, the second plasmonic surface, and the dielectric-filled gap, and having a spectrally separated first fundamental resonant cavity wavelength λ 1 and second fundamental resonant cavity wavelength λ 2 ; and
a plurality of fluorescent particles located in the dielectric-filled gap, each fluorescent particle of the plurality of fluorescent particles having an absorption spectrum including the first fundamental resonant cavity wavelength λ 1 and an emission spectrum including the second fundamental resonant cavity wavelength λ 2 .

2. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first fundamental resonant cavity wavelength λ 1 is a function of a first characteristic of the plasmonic nanoparticle and the second fundamental resonant cavity wavelength λ 2 is a function of a second characteristic of the plasmonic nanoparticle.

3. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the first fundamental resonant cavity wavelength λ 1 is a function of a first structural characteristic of the plasmonic nanoparticle and the second fundamental resonant cavity wavelength λ 2 is a function of a second structural characteristic of the plasmonic nanoparticle.

4. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the first fundamental resonant cavity wavelength λ 1 is a function of a first dimensional characteristic of the plasmonic nanoparticle and the second fundamental resonant cavity wavelength λ 2 is a function of a second dimensional characteristic of the plasmonic nanoparticle.

5. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first fundamental resonant cavity wavelength λ 1 is a function of a first side dimension of a non-square rectangular base of the plasmonic nanoparticle and the second fundamental resonant cavity wavelength λ 2 is a function of a second side dimension of the non-square rectangular base of the plasmonic nanoparticle.

6. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the base of the plasmonic nanoparticle is conformal to the first plasmonic surface.

7. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the base of the plasmonic nanoparticle has a major side, and a minor side shorter than the major side.

8. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plasmonic nanoparticle includes at least two joined or proximate plasmonic nanoparticles forming in combination the base with a second negative-permittivity layer comprising a second plasmonic surface.

9. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plasmonic nanoparticle includes a nanorod having a non-square rectangular base with the second negative-permittivity layer.

10. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the base of the plasmonic nanoparticle has an arbitrary shape.

11. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the base of the plasmonic nanoparticle has a major side length ranging between 10-10000 nm.

12. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the base of the plasmonic nanoparticle has a major side length between about 100 and about 1000 nm.

13. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plasmonic cavity has a spectrally separated first spectral resonant envelope that includes the first fundamental resonant wavelength λ 1 and a second spectral resonant envelope that includes the second fundamental resonant wavelength λ 2 .

14. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first fundamental resonant wavelength λ 1 is in the ultraviolet spectrum and second fundamental resonant wavelength λ 2 of the plasmonic cavity is in the visible light spectrum.

15. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first fundamental resonant wavelength λ 1 and second fundamental resonant wavelength λ 2 of the plasmonic cavity are both in the visible light spectrum.

16. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second fundamental resonant cavity wavelength λ 2 of the plasmonic nanoparticle is a harmonic of the first fundamental resonant cavity wavelength λ 1 of the plasmonic cavity.

17. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein (i) the second fundamental resonant cavity wavelength λ 2 is a 3 rd harmonic of the first fundamental resonant cavity wavelength λ 1 of the plasmonic cavity; and (ii) each fluorescent particle of the plurality of fluorescent particles includes a fluorescent particle with a 3 rd harmonic nonlinearity having an emission spectrum including the second fundamental resonant cavity wavelength λ 2 .

18. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the dielectric includes a non-linear optical material having a non-linear response configured to enhance emission at the second fundamental resonant cavity wavelength λ 2 .

19. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plasmonic nanoparticle includes a plurality of plasmonic nanoparticles, each plasmonic nanoparticle of the plurality of plasmonic nanoparticles having a base with a second negative-permittivity layer comprising in combination a second plasmonic surface.

20. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plasmonic nanoparticle includes a doubly-resonant plasmonic nanoparticle.

21. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plasmonic nanoparticle, the substrate, or the dielectric includes a nonlinear harmonic material.

22. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first plasmonic surface is coated with at least two fluorescent particles of the plurality of fluorescent particles.

23. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second plasmonic surface is coated with at least two fluorescent particles of the plurality of fluorescent particles.

24. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of fluorescent particles are included in the dielectric-filled gap.

25. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first plasmonic surface includes an adhesive configured to bond the first plasmonic surface with a dielectric material of the dielectric-filled gap.

26. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first negative-permittivity layer has negative permittivity within a defined wavelength range.

27. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first negative-permittivity layer includes a metallic layer.

28. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first negative-permittivity layer includes a semi-metallic layer.

29. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first negative-permittivity layer includes a semiconductor layer.

30. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second negative-permittivity layer includes a metallic layer.

31. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second negative-permittivity layer includes a semimetal layer.

32. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second negative-permittivity layer includes a semiconductor layer or a polaritonic dielectric layer.

33. The plasmonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the dielectric-filled gap

Assignees

• Elwha Llc

Inventors

• Akselrod Gleb M
• Hyde Roderick A
• Ishikawa Muriel Y
• Kare Jordin T
• Mikkelsen Maiken H
• Pan Tony S
• Smith David R
• Tegreene Clarence T
• Urzhumov Yaroslav A
• Whitmer Charles
• Wood Jr Lowell L
• Wood Victoria Y H

Classifications

• G02F2203/10

  plasmon · CPC title

• G02F2001/354

  Physics · mapped topic

• G02F2203/15

  involving resonance effects, e.g. resonantly enhanced interaction · CPC title

• G02F2202/36

  Micro- or nanomaterials · CPC title

• B82Y20/00

  Nanooptics, e.g. quantum optics or photonic crystals · CPC title