Hybrid optical materials of plasmon-coupled CdSe/ZnS coreshells for photonic applications

A hybrid optical nanostructure of plasmon-coupled SQDs was developed for photonic applications. The coupling distances between the mono-layers of Au nanoparticles with a surface concentration of similar to 9.18 x 10(-4) nm(-2) and CdSe/ZnS SQDs with that of similar to 3.7 x 10(-3) nm(-2) were controlled by PMMA plasma etching. Time-resolved spectroscopy of plasmon-coupled SQDs revealed a strong shortening of the longest lifetime and similar to 9-fold PL enhancement. Polarization-resolved PL spectroscopy displayed linear polarization and depolarization at near- and far-field plasmon-coupling, respectively. The physical origin of PL enhancement could be attributable to both the large local field enhancement and the fast resonant energy transfer. (C)2012 Optical Society of America