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Organic plasmon-emitting diode

Nature Photonics volume 2, pages 684–687 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Surface plasmons are hybrid modes of longitudinal electron oscillations and light fields at the interface of a metal and a dielectric1,2. Driven by advances in nanofabrication, imaging and numerical methods3,4, a wide range of plasmonic elements such as waveguides5,6, Bragg mirrors7, beamsplitters8, optical modulators9 and surface plasmon detectors10 have recently been reported. For introducing dynamic functionality to plasmonics, the rapidly growing field of organic optoelectronics11 holds strong promise due to its ease of fabrication and integration opportunities. Here, we introduce an electrically switchable surface plasmon source based on an organic light‐emitting diode. The source provides a freely propagating surface plasmon beam and is potentially useful for organic integrated photonic circuits and sensing applications. Furthermore, the demonstration of controlled coupling of surface plasmons and excitons in organic materials could prove useful for the fabrication of improved organic light-emitting diodes and organic photovoltaic devices.

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Figure 1: Organic plasmon-emitting diode.
Figure 2: Polychromatic surface plasmon emission.

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Acknowledgements

We thank G. Jakopic for fruitful discussions. NAWI Graz, Graz Advanced School of Science (GASS) and the project cluster ISOTEC (N702 SENSPHYS, N704 POLYSENS) of the national Austrian NANO initiative are acknowledged for funding this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Physics, Karl-Franzens-University, Graz, A-8010, Austria

    D.M. Koller, A. Hohenau, H. Ditlbacher, N. Galler, F. Reil, F.R. Aussenegg, A. Leitner & J.R. Krenn

  2. Erwin Schrödinger Institute for Nanoscale Research, Karl‐Franzens‐University, Graz, A‐8010, Austria

    D.M. Koller, A. Hohenau, H. Ditlbacher, N. Galler, F. Reil, F.R. Aussenegg, A. Leitner & J.R. Krenn

  3. Christian Doppler Laboratory for Advanced Functional Materials, Institute of Solid State Physics, Graz University of Technology, Graz, A‐8010, Austria

    E.J.W. List

  4. NanoTecCenter Weiz Forschungsgesellschaft mbH, Weiz, A‐8160, Austria

    E.J.W. List

Authors
  1. D.M. Koller
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  2. A. Hohenau
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  3. H. Ditlbacher
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  4. N. Galler
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  5. F. Reil
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  6. F.R. Aussenegg
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  7. A. Leitner
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  8. E.J.W. List
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  9. J.R. Krenn
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Contributions

J.R.K., E.J.W.L. and D.M.K. conceived and designed the experiments. D.M.K. performed the experiments. D.M.K., H.D., F.R.A., A.L. and F.R. analysed the data. N.G., A.H. and E.J.W.L. contributed materials and analysis tools. D.M.K. and J.R.K. wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to J.R. Krenn.

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Koller, D., Hohenau, A., Ditlbacher, H. et al. Organic plasmon-emitting diode. Nature Photon 2, 684–687 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2008.200

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