Metal-enhanced fluorescence: Surface plasmons can radiate a fluorophore's structured emission

In this letter, the authors report the observation of metal-enhanced structured fluorescence emission. Perylene in close proximity to silver island films (SiFs) enhances the structured fluorescence emission intensity. In this regard, an approximately two-fold higher perylene fluorescence intensity was observed from SiFs as compared to a glass control sample, containing no silver nanoparticles. The findings strongly suggest that surface plasmons can radiate a fluorophore's vibrational structure. This observation is helpful in the authors' understanding, not only for studying the interactions between plasmons and lumophores but also for their laboratories' continued efforts to develop a unified plasmon-lumophore theory.