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Spectroscopic Imaging of Metal-Enhanced Upconversion on Plasmonic Substrates

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Abstract

We use spectroscopic imaging to investigate the enhancement of infra-red to visible upconversion in rare-earth doped nano-particles (NaYF4:Yb:Er) supported on nano-fabricated plasmonic substrates consisting of square lattices of Au nano-pillars fabricated by electron beam lithography and designed to support a surface plasmon polariton at frequencies which are near-resonant with the rare-earth ion (Yb3+) absorption. We observe a systematic enhancement in the efficiency of upconversion associated with the interaction of the co-doped nano-particles with the plasmonic substrate. Spectrally-resolved imaging provides a massively parallel means of assessing the range of achievable enhancement and its relation to the specific configuration of the substrate / upconverting nano-particle system. Spectrally-resolved reflectivity of the plasmonic substrates confirms the role of the surface plasmon polariton in the upconversion enhancement. Experimental results are compared to Finite Difference Time Domain simulations of the frequency-dependent reflectivity of these metallic nanostructures.

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Acknowledgments

Funding provided by NASA award #NNX09AP67A, NSF award #’s 0619890 (DMR), 0903804 (EPSCoR), and DOE/NREL subcontract # ZCO-7-77379. The authors acknowledge Lynn Gedvilas of NREL for making the FTIR reflectivity measurements, Sandia National Laboratories for assistance with reflectivity measurements made under our CINT proposal #C2011B87, and the Nanofabrication Center at the University of Minnesota for providing access to the electron beam lithography and thermal evaporation systems.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, SD, 57701, USA

    R.B. Anderson, J. Fisher, A. Hor & S. Smith

  2. Chemistry Department, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD, 57069, USA

    A. Lu & P.S. May

  3. Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD, 57007, USA

    H. Paudel, K. Bayat & M. Baroughi

  4. Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT), Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, 87185, USA

    T-S. Luk

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  1. R.B. Anderson
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  2. J. Fisher
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  3. A. Hor
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  4. A. Lu
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  5. H. Paudel
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  6. K. Bayat
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  7. M. Baroughi
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  8. T-S. Luk
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  9. P.S. May
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  10. S. Smith
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Anderson, R., Fisher, J., Hor, A. et al. Spectroscopic Imaging of Metal-Enhanced Upconversion on Plasmonic Substrates. MRS Online Proceedings Library 1457, 1–6 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1557/opl.2012.1522

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/opl.2012.1522

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