Enhancing Förster nonradiative energy transfer via plasmon interaction

Plasmon-enhanced nonradiative energy transfer is demonstrated in two inorganic semiconductor systems. The first is comprised of colloidal nanocrystal CdTe donor and acceptor quantum dots, while the second is a hybrid InGaN quantum well-CdSe/ZnS quantum dot donor-Acceptor system. Both structures are in a planar geometry. In the first case a monolayer of Au nanospheres is sandwiched between donor and acceptor quantum dot monolayers. The largest energy transfer efficiency is seen when the donor is ∼3 nm from the Au nanopshere. A plasmon-enhanced energy transfer efficiency of ∼ 40% has been achieved for a separation of 3 nm between the Au nanopshere monolayer and the acceptor monolayer. Despite the increased energy transfer efficiency these conditions result in strong quenching of the acceptor QD emission. By tuning the Au nanosphere concentration and Au nanosphere-Acceptor QD separation the acceptor QD emission can be increased by a factor of ∼2.8. The plasmon-enhanced nonradiative energy transfer is observed to extend over larger distances than conventional Forster resonance energy transfer. Under the experimental conditions reported herein, it can be described by the same d-4 dependence but with a larger characteristic distance. Using a Ag nanobox array plasmonic component plasmon-enhanced nonradiative energy transfer has also demonstrated from an InGaN quantum well to a ∼80 nm thick layer of CdSe/ZnS colloidal quantum dots. An efficiency of ∼27% is achieved, with an overall increase in the QD emission by ∼70%.