Abstract
Significant emission enhancement of fluorescent molecules placed in close proximity to metallic nanoparticles has been observed. Recent advances in nanotechnology have enabled the introduction of plasmon-enhanced molecular fluorescence in various applications. Comprehensive theory of the physics behind this enhancement mechanism has also been developed. However, most of the existing analytical tools are applicable mainly for particular nanoparticles in either spherical or ellipsoidal shapes. Since the plasmonic enhancement of molecular fluorescence is dependent on various parameters such as shape, size, and distribution of nearby nanoparticles, it is crucial to have more powerful analysis tools to be able to handle any arbitrary nanoparticles. For this purpose, the 3D finite element method, which is a commonly used technique for arbitrary structures, is implemented and reported in this paper. The emitting molecule is assumed to be an electric dipole point source. The fluorescence enhancement factor is described in term of a local electric field-enhancement factor and the quantum yield of the system. The model is validated by comparison to the approximate quasistatic model and the exact Mie theory. It provides more accurate results than those of the quasistatic model, which makes it become the powerful numerical approach for investigation of arbitrary nanostructure influence on molecular fluorescence. It is then applied for investigating the emission characteristics of the fluorescent molecule when it is placed in the vicinity of more complicated structures including dimers and chains of coupled nanoparticles. It is found that these coupled nanoparticle configurations provide stronger fluorescence enhancement than the single nanoparticle of the same particle size when the inter-particle gap is small. It is attributed to the higher electric-field enhancement in the inter-particle gap region via strong surface plasmon coupling effects of two neighboring nanoparticles.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Purcell EM (1946) Phys Rev 69:681
Goy P, Raimond JM, Gross M, Haroche S (1983) Phys Rev Lett 50:1903–1906
Hulet RG, Hilfer ES, Kleppner D (1985) Phys Rev Lett 55:2137–2140
John S (1987) Phys Rev Lett 58:2486–2489
Yablonovitch E (1987) Phys Rev Lett 58:2059–2062
Boroditsky M, Vrijen R, Krauss TF, Coccioli R, Bhat R, Yablonovitch EJ (1999) Lightwave Technol 17:2096–2112
Gerard JM, Sermage B, Gayral B, Legrand B, Costard E, Thierry-Mieg V (1988) Phys Rev Lett 81:1110–1113
Gerard JM, Gayral BJ (1999) Lightwave Technol 17:2089–2095
Kiraz A, Michler P, Becher C, Gayral B, Imamoglu A, Zhang LD, Hu E, Schoenfeld WV, Petroff PM (2001) App Phys Lett 78:3932–3934
Drexhage KHJ (1970) Lumin 1:693–701
Kuhn H (1970) J Chem Phys 53:101
Agarwal GS (1975) Phys Rev B 12:1475
Grossel P, Vigoureux JM, Payen E (1977) Opt Commun 20:192
Wylie JM, Sipe JE (1984) Phys Rev A 30:1185
Grossel P, Van-Labeke D, Vigoureux JM (1983) Chem Phys Lett 99:193
Chew H (1988) Phys Rev A 38:3410
Gontijo I, Boroditsky M, Yablonovitch E, Keller S, Mishra UK, DenBaars SP (1999) Phys Rev B 60:11564–11567
Chance RR, Prock A, Silbey RJ (1974) Chem Phys 60:2744–2748
Dulkeith E, Morteani AC, Niedereichholz T, Klar TA, Felfmann J, Levi SA, van Veggel F, Reinhoudt DN, Moller M, Gittins DI (2002) Phys Rev Lett 89:203002
Biteen JS, Lewis NS, Atwater HA, Mertens H, Polman A (2006) Appl Phys Lett 88:131109
Tam F, Goodrich GP, Johnson BR, Halas NJ (2007) Nano Lett 7:496–501
Betzig E, Chichester R (1993) J Science 262:1422
Michaelis J, Hettich C, Mlynek J, Sandoghdar V (2000) Nature 405:325
Okamoto K, Niki I, Shvartser A, Narukawa Y, Mukai T, Scherer A (2004) Nat Matters 3:601–605
Catchpole KR, Pillai SJ (2006) Lumin 121:315–318
Le KQ, Bienstman P (2011) Plasmonic 6:53–57
Painter O, Lee RK, Scherer A, Yariv A, O’Brien JD, Dapkus PD, Kim I (1999) Science 284:1819–1821
Fischer S, Steinkemper H, Loper P, Hermle M, Goldschmidt JC (2011) J Appl Phys 111:013109
Goldschmidt JC, Fisher S, Steinkemper H, Hallermann F, Plessen Von G, Kramer KW, Biner D, Hermle M (2012) IEEE J Photovolt 2:134–140
Atre AC, Etxarri AG, Alaeian H, Dionne JA (2012) J Opt 14:024008
Dynich RA, Ponyavina ANJ (2008) Appl Spectrosc 75:831–837
Kottmann JP, Martin OJF (2001) Opt Lett 26:1096–1098
Li K, Stockman MI, Bergman D (2003) J Phys Rev Lett 91:227402
Anger P, Bharadwaj P, Novotny L (2006) Phys Rev Lett 96:113002
Shimizu KT, Woo WK, Fisher BR, Eisler HJ, Bawendi MG (2002) Phys Rev Lett 89:117401
Dulkeith E, Ringler M, Klar TA, Felfmann J, Javier AM, Parak WJ (2005) Nano Lett 5:858–589
Trabesinger W, Kramer A, Kreiter M, Hecht B, Wild UP (2002) Appl Phys Lett 81:2118
Krug JT, Sanchez EJ, Xei XS (2005) Appl Phys Lett 86:233102
Lakowicz JR (2005) Anal Biochem 337:171–194
Liaw JW, Chen JH, Chen CS, Kuo MK (2009) Opt Express 17:13532
Zoriniants G, Barnes WL, New J (2008) Phys 10:105002
Ringler M, Schwemer A, Wunderlich M, Nichtl A, Kurzinger K, Klar TA, Felfmann J (2008) Phys Rev Lett 100:203002
Blanco LA, De Garcia Abojo FJ (2004) Phys Rev B 69:205414
Chowdhury MH, Pond J, Gray SK, Lakowicz JR (2008) J Phys Chem C 112:11236
Xu YL (1995) Appl Opt 34:4573–4588
Xu YL (1998) Phys Lett A 249:30–36
Kinkhabwala A, Yu Z, Fan S, Avlasevich Y, Mullen K, Moerner WE (2009) W E Nature Photon 3:654–657
Willets KA, Van Duyne RP (2007) Annu Rev Phys Chem 58:267–297
Martin OJF, Girard C, Dereux A (1995) Phys Rev Lett 74:526–529
De Garcia Abojo FJ, Howie A (1998) Phys Rev Lett 80:5180–5183
Miao X, Brener I, Luk TSJ (2010) Opt Soc Am B 27:1561–1570
Polemi A, Chuford KL (2012) J Chem Phys 136:184703
Khoury CG, Norton SJ, Vo-Dinh T (2010) Nanotechnology 21:315203
Kim YS, Leung PT, George TF (1988) Surf Sci 195:1–14
Gersten J, Nitzan A (1981) J Chem Phys 75:1139
Guzatov DV, Vaschenko SV, Stankevich VV, Lunevich AY, Glukhov YF, Gaponenko SVJ (2012) Phys Chem C 116:10723–10733
Chowdhury MH, Pond J, Gray SK, Lakowicz JR (2008) J Phys Chem C 112:11236
Mie G (1908) Ann Phys (Leipzig) 25:377–445
Abramowitz M, Stegun IA (1965) Handbook of Mathematical Functions. Dover, New York
Johnson B, Christy RW (1972) Phys Rev B 6:4370–4379
Mertens H, Koenderink AF, Polman A (2007) Phys Rev B 76:115123
Valeur B, Berberan MN (2012) Molecular fluorescence: principles and applications. Wiley-VCH, Germany
Le KQ, John S (2014) Opt Express 22:A1–A12
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Le, K.Q. Nanoplasmonic Enhancement of Molecular Fluorescence: Theory and Numerical Modeling. Plasmonics 10, 475–482 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-014-9830-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-014-9830-0