Active control of the photoluminescence emitted by quantum dots using metallic nanoparticles and photochromic molecules

Gwénaëlle Lamri (1) , Jana Nieder (2) , Edite Figueiras (3) , Jean Aubard (4) , Pierre-Michel Adam (1) , Rodolphe Jaffiol (1) , Christophe Couteau (1) , Nordin Felidj (4) , Anne-Laure Baudrion (1)

1 LNIO - Laboratoire de Nanotechnologie et d'Instrumentation Optique
2 INL - International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory
3 LISA - Laboratoire d'Ingéniérie des Systèmes Automatisés
4 ITODYS (UMR_7086) - Interfaces, Traitements, Organisation et Dynamique des Systèmes

Metallic nanoparticles (MNP) may sustain Localized Surface Plasmon (LSP) resonances and the coupling between MNP and quantum dots (QD) is known to lead either to the enhancement or to the quenching of the QD photoluminescence [1]. The distance between QD and MNP is one of the switch parameters between both regimes. The goal of this study is to control the coupling distance (different from the physical distance) between QD and MNP by changing the refractive index of the surrounding medium using photochromic molecules (PM). These molecules are optical switches, which move from a transparent state to a colored one by absorbing UV light. The main drawback concerns the spectral overlap and the lifetime of each optical phenomenon, since the photochromic molecules can couple to LSP to induce strong coupling [2] or couple to QDs to quench the photoluminescence [3]. In this study, we measured photoluminescence spectra, images and lifetimes of QDs deposited on a glass substrate, with or without the presence of MNPs and PM.

Domains: Engineering Sciences [physics]; Optics / Photonic

Gwénaëlle Lamri, Jana Nieder, Edite Figueiras, Jean Aubard, Pierre-Michel Adam, et al.. Active control of the photoluminescence emitted by quantum dots using metallic nanoparticles and photochromic molecules. Plasmonica 2017, Jun 2017, Lecce, Italy. ⟨hal-02481539⟩