Generation of molecular hot electroluminescence by resonant nanocavity plasmons

Dong, Zhen‐Chao; Zhang, Xinglai; Gao, Hailing; Luo, Yi; Zhang, C.; Chen, L. G.; Zhang, Runhao; Xing, Tao; Zhang, Y.; Yang, Jinlong; Hou, J. G.

doi:10.1038/nphoton.2009.257

Cited by 268 publications

(273 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…While the present work focuses on a metallic model system it should be noted that fluorescence at hν > eV has also been reported from molecular films. [19][20][21] The thermalization of electrons in metals has been investigated with pulsed-laser excitation. Electron-electron interaction leads to thermalization of the electron system on a sub-ps timescale over which the distribution evolves from a nonthermal to a hot Fermi-Dirac shape.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hot electron cascades in the scanning tunneling microscope

2013

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The nonequilibrium distribution of electrons at the junction of a scanning tunneling microscope is investigated by detecting photons with energies hν > eV , where V is the bias voltage. Electrons are found at energies exceeding the Fermi level by almost eV . While their distribution deviates from a Fermi-Dirac function it is consistent with a model of hot electrons and holes that diffuse in energy and real space.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hot electron cascades in the scanning tunneling microscope

2013

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“…This asymmetry significantly reduces the elastic resonant transmission of the structure from 100% down to a very low value [46] while still ensuring the enhancement of the density of probability for electron inside the well. One should note that one possible way for realizing a resonant tunnelling could be the insertion of quantum dot(s) or molecule(s) inside the nanogap of plasmonic nanoantennas -see, for instance, [49][50].  describes the well-established fact that when the incident electron penetrates into the QW, it populates the energy level during prolonged period of time, just as a photon dwells for a long period of time in a resonant Fabry-Perot cavity.…”

Section: B Double Barrier Structure With Resonant Tunnellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Excitation of plasmonic nanoantennas by nonresonant and resonant electron tunnelling

et al. 2016

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Abstract.A rigorous theory of photon emission accompanied inelastic tunnelling inside the gap of plasmonic nanoantennas has been developed. The disappointingly low efficiency of the electrical excitation of surface plasmon polaritons in these structures can be increased by orders of magnitude when a resonant tunnelling structure is incorporated inside the gap. Resonant tunnelling assisted surface plasmon emitter may become a key element in future electrically-driven nanoplasmonic circuits. I IntroductionPlasmonic nanoantennas attract much attention due to their ability at enhancing and controlling effectively the spontaneous emission rate of quantum emitters (molecules, quantum dots and so on) [1][2][3][4]. This unique asset has already been put into productive use in optically driven nanoantennas [3][4], primarily for sensing applications. But at the same time, the progress in integrated nanoplasmonic circuits has been impeded by the lack of efficient electrically-pumped sub-wavelength sources of light. For example, semiconductor lasers that enable present day photonic integrated topics suffer from high threshold and low efficiency when scaled down the sub-wavelength dimensions [5]. Given that, electrically-driven plasmonic nanoantennas appear to be a logical approach to the problem due to its apparent simplicity, as no nanoscale p-n junction needs to be formed and the light confinement is easily achieved in the vicinity of surface plasmon polariton (SPP) resonance.Excitation of plasmonic oscillations (both propagating and localized) with electron tunnelling is far from being a new topicit predates the first appearance of the term "plasmonics" by decades., but as we show below, it deserves a second look. Starting with the pioneering 1976 work [6] by Lambe and McCarthy, tunnelling excitation of surface plasmonic waves in planar Metal-Insulator-Metal (MIM) structures had been an object of plentiful experimental [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] and theoretical [16][17][18][19][20] studies. These investigations had been given an impetus by the invention of Scanning Tunnelling Microscope (STM) at the end of 1980's as numerous intensive studies of excitation of plasmonic modes with STM tips has been since performed [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. With the advent of nanophotonics the focus of research on SPP electrical excitation has gradually shifted to the development of miniature light sources as can be learned from recent reports [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] and review [42] by García de Abajo.The results of the experimental measurements often differ from each other and from theoretical estimates by as much as an order of magnitude or more [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41]. This is expected, given the great variety of experimental conditions as well as equally great diversity of theoretical approaches. Overall, though, it comes as no surprise that the most serious disadvantage of the electron tunnelling mechanism for the electrical excitation of SPP is its low quantum ef...

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“…STM-induced luminescence has proven its ability to obtain optical spectra from isolated molecules [10,11] and from thin molecular films. [12][13][14][15][16][17] We report on the first STM-induced luminescence from an acene. The method allows the local characterization of molecular structure, orientation, and the identification of the excited species according to their optical spectra.…”

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confidence: 94%