Plasmonic crystal for efficient energy transfer from fluorescent molecules to long-range surface plasmons

Corrugated metallic thin film structures that do not support short-range surface plasmon modes but do support long-range modes are discussed. The coupling efficiency of the energy of excited fluorescent molecules to long-range modes is theoretically calculated using the rigorous coupled wave approach. The obtained maximum coupling efficiency is found to be 55%, more that two times higher than the efficiency of uncorrugated metallic thin films. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America