Exciton-Plasmon Interactions in Metal-Semiconductor Nanostructures

The complementary optical properties of metal and semiconductor nanostructures make them attractive components for many applications that require controlled flow of electromagnetic energy on the nanometer lenth scale. When combined into heterostructures, the nanometer-scale vicinity of the two material systems leads to interactions between quantum-confined electronic states in semiconductor nanostructures and dielectric-confined electromagnetic modes in the metal counterparts. Such exciton-plasmon interactions allow design of absorption and emission properties, control of nanoscale energy-transfer processes, creation of new excitations in the strong coupling regime, and increase of optical nonlinearities. With the advancement of novel fabrication techniques, the functionalities of metal-semiconductor nanostructures will be further increased for better control of optical properties and energy flows on nanometer length and femtosecond time scales.