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Tamm Plasmons Directionally Enhance Rare-Earth Nanophosphor Emission

ICMS

Dongling Geng, Elena Cabello-Olmo, Gabriel Lozano, and Hernán Miguez ACS Photonics 2019, Vol. 6, 634-641

Rare earth based phosphors are the materials onto which current solid state lighting technology is built on. However, their large crystal size impedes the tuning, optimization or manipulation of emitted light that could be achieved by their integration in nanophotonic architectures. Herein we demonstrate a hybrid plasmonic-photonic architecture capable of both channeling in a specific direction and enhancing eight times the emission radiated by a macroscopically wide layer of nanophosphors. In order to do so, a slab of rare earth based nanocrystals is inserted between a dielectric multilayer and a metal film, following a rational design that optimizes the coupling of nanophosphor emission to Tamm plasmons, collective modes sustained by the metal-dielectric system that arise from the hybridization of confined surface plasmons and propagating Bloch waves. Our approach could be used to build enhanced solid-state lighting systems in which directionality and spectral properties are determined by the integration of the emitters within a specifically devised photonic architecture, without the need to modify the composition of the phosphor or make use of secondary elements.

 

Elena Cabello