Recently, surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) arising from metal/dielectric interface have evolved into a new research area in bio- and nano-techologies. Not only that they have been used for making chemical and biological sensors, SPPs are being proposed as a new medium to deliver light signal at the length scale beyond diffraction limit. Several unexpected phenomena including extraordinary transmission, superlensing, waveguiding, etc., have been observed from the world. "Plasmonic" is coined on this subject after the eras of "Photonics" and "Electronics". In this project, we will investigate the effects of SPP on the light emission of semiconductors and phosphors by using a variety of near field optical spectroscopic techniques. In particular, special attention will be paid on the interactions between semiconductor and individual metal nanoparticles and/or clusters. Theoretical calculation based on finite-difference-time-domain method will be used. [Up to 2 students may be admitted.]
References:
- A.V. Zayats, I.I. Smolyaninov and A.A. Maradudin, "Nano-optics of surface plasmon polaritons", Physics Reports 408, pp. 131-314 (2005).
- C.W. Lai, J. An and H.C. Ong, "Surface-plasmon-mediated emission from metal-capped ZnO thin films", Applied Physics Letters 86, pp. 251105(1-3) (2005).
