Metal-enhanced e-type fluorescence

In this letter, we report metal-enhanced e-type fluorescence. Eosin in close proximity to silver island films (SiFs) shows enhanced e-type fluorescence with an approximately two-fold higher intensity observed from SiFs, as compared to a control sample. Our findings suggest two complementary mechanisms for the enhancement: surface plasmons can radiate e-type delayed fluorescence efficiently and enhanced absorption also facilitates enhanced emission from both S-1 and T-1 states. This observation is helpful in our understanding not only for studying the interactions between plasmons and fluorophores but also for our laboratories continued efforts to develop a unified plasmon-lumophore description. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics.