Hybrid optical materials of plasmon-coupled CdSe/ZnS coreshells for photonic applications

Opt Mater Express. 2012 Aug 1;2(8):1026-1039. doi: 10.1364/OME.2.001026. Epub 2012 Jul 5.

Abstract

A hybrid optical nanostructure of plasmon-coupled SQDs was developed for photonic applications. The coupling distances between the mono-layers of Au nanoparticles with a surface concentration of ~9.18 × 10-4 nm-2 and CdSe/ZnS SQDs with that of ~3.7 × 10-3 nm-2 were controlled by PMMA plasma etching. Time-resolved spectroscopy of plasmon-coupled SQDs revealed a strong shortening of the longest lifetime and ~9-fold PL enhancement. Polarization-resolved PL spectroscopy displayed linear polarization and depolarization at near- and far-field plasmon-coupling, respectively. The physical origin of PL enhancement could be attributable to both the large local field enhancement and the fast resonant energy transfer.