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Generation of molecular hot electroluminescence by resonant nanocavity plasmons

Nature Photonics volume 4, pages 50–54 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

Control of the radiative properties of functional molecules near metals is a key issue in nano-optics, and is particularly important in the fields of energy transfer and light manipulation at the nanoscale1,2 and the development of plasmonic devices3,4,5. Despite the various vibronic transitions (S1(v′) → S0(v)) available for frequency tuning of fluorescence, the molecular emissions near metals reported to date have been subject to Kasha's rule, with radiative decay from the lowest excited state (S1(0)) (refs 6–10). Here, we show resonant hot electroluminescence arising directly from higher vibronic levels of the singlet excited state (S1(v′ > 0)) for porphyrin molecules confined inside a nanocavity in a scanning tunnelling microscope, by spectrally tuning the frequency of plasmons. We also demonstrate the generation of unexpected upconversion electroluminescence. These observations suggest that the local nanocavity plasmons behave like a strong coherent optical source with tunable energy, and can be used to actively control the radiative channels of molecular emitters by means of intense resonance enhancement of both excitation and emission.

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Figure 1: Electronic decoupling for molecular fluorescence from local STM cavities.
Figure 2: Upconversion electroluminescence of molecules with unusual hot luminescence.
Figure 3: Shaping emission spectra of molecules by resonant NCP.
Figure 4: Bias and current dependence of molecular junction electroluminescence.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge discussions with B. Wang and X.P. Wang, and support from the National Basic Research Program of China (grant nos 2006CB922003 and 2010CB923300), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant no. KJCX2.YW.H06) and the Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos 10574117 and 10974186).

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  1. X. L. Zhang and H. Y. Gao: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, Anhui, China

    Z. C. Dong, X. L. Zhang, H. Y. Gao, Y. Luo, C. Zhang, L. G. Chen, R. Zhang, X. Tao, Y. Zhang, J. L. Yang & J. G. Hou

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  1. Z. C. Dong
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Contributions

X.L.Z. and H.Y.G. contributed equally to this work. Z.C.D., Y.L. and J.G.H. supervised the project, designed experiments, analysed the data and wrote the paper. X.L.Z. and H.Y.G. performed experiments and analysed data. C.Z., L.G.C. and R.Z. performed experiments. X.T. and Y.Z. performed simulations and data analysis. J.L.Y. analysed data and edited the paper.

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Correspondence to Z. C. Dong or J. G. Hou.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Dong, Z., Zhang, X., Gao, H. et al. Generation of molecular hot electroluminescence by resonant nanocavity plasmons. Nature Photon 4, 50–54 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2009.257

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