Active liquid crystal tuning of metallic nanoantenna enhanced light emission from colloidal quantum dots

Nano Lett. 2014 Oct 8;14(10):5555-60. doi: 10.1021/nl501955e. Epub 2014 Sep 26.

Abstract

A system comprising an aluminum nanoantenna array on top of a luminescent colloidal quantum dot waveguide and covered by a thermotropic liquid crystal (LC) is introduced. By heating the LC above its critical temperature, we demonstrate that the concomitant refractive index change modifies the hybrid plasmonic-photonic resonances in the system. This enables active control of the spectrum and directionality of the narrow-band (∼6 nm) enhancement of quantum dot photoluminescence by the metallic nanoantennas.

Keywords: Waveguide; fluorescence; liquid crystal; nanoantenna; quantum dot.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't