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Strong Photoluminescence Enhancement from Colloidal Quantum Dot Near Silver Nano-Island Films

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Abstract

We present the fabrication and optical investigation of highly random self-assembled, nano-scale films, probing their influence on the luminescence properties of near surface CdSe/ZnS colloidal quantum dots. When compared to quantum dots distributed on unstructured quartz substrates, the average luminescence intensity is found to be enhanced by a factor of 160×. The silver nanoparticles are prepared using slow thermal evaporation on quartz substrates and post-deposition annealing to produce a randomly-arranged layer of smooth nano-islands. Clear polarization dependent hot spots are observed. Such hot spots deliver a maximal enhancement of the emission intensity of 240× and have a spatial density of (0.050±0.002) μm − 2. The results show that silver nano-island films strongly enhance the optical efficiency of near quantum dots emitters.

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Notes

  1. This numerical procedure sets all pixels with an intensity inferior to the specified threshold to zero.

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Acknowledgements

This project was supported by the Deutsche Forschungs Gemeinschaft via the Nanosystems Initiative Munich. SF acknowledges support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Walter Schottky Institut, Technische Universität München, Am Coulombwall 3, 85748, Garching bei München, Germany

    Hagen Langhuth, Simon Frédérick, Michael Kaniber & Jonathan J. Finley

  2. Institut für Informatik, Technische Universität München, Boltzmannstr. 3, 85748, Garching bei München, Germany

    Ulrich Rührmair

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  1. Hagen Langhuth
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  2. Simon Frédérick
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  3. Michael Kaniber
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  4. Jonathan J. Finley
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  5. Ulrich Rührmair
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Correspondence to Simon Frédérick.

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Langhuth, H., Frédérick, S., Kaniber, M. et al. Strong Photoluminescence Enhancement from Colloidal Quantum Dot Near Silver Nano-Island Films. J Fluoresc 21, 539–543 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-010-0740-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-010-0740-z

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