Localized plasmon-engineered spontaneous emission of CdSe/ZnS nanocrystals closely-packed in the proximity of Ag nanoislands

Abstract

As a proof-of-concept demonstration, we show that the localized plasmons of metal nanoisland films provide the ability to modify and control the collective spontaneous emission of nanocrystals in their proximity (including emission peak wavelength and linewidth in addition to intensity). Using randomly-distributed Ag nanoparticles, we demonstrate plasmonic resonance tuned for the proximal CdSe/ZnS NC emitters to shift PL peak wavelength (by 14 nm) and reduce the FWHM (by 10 nm), while enhancing PL intensity by 15.1 and 21.6 times compared to the control groups of nanocrystals alone and those with nanoAg but no dielectric spacer, respectively.