Broadband enhancement of spontaneous emission by optical dipole nanoantenna on metallic substrate: An intuitive model of surface plasmon polariton

Abstract

<sec>Optical nanoantennas can achieve electromagnetic-field enhancement under far-field excitation or spontaneous-emission enhancement under excitation by radiating emitters. Among them, nanoantennas on a metallic substrate (i.e. the so-called nanoparticle-on-mirror antennas) have aroused great research interest due to their ease in forming metallic gaps of sizes down to a few nanometers or even subnanometer. Here we propose an optical dipole nanoantenna on a metallic substrate with a broadband enhancement of spontaneous emission. Its total and radiative emission-rate enhancement factors can reach up to 5454 and 1041, respectively. In the near-infrared band, the wavelength range of spontaneous-emission enhancement (Purcell factor over 1000) can reach 260nm. By changing the width of the slit between the two antenna arms and also the length of the antenna arms, the spontaneous-emission enhancement bandwidth and enhancement factors can be adjusted, respectively, which brings great freedom and simplicity to the design process. The antenna can achieve a strong far-field radiation within a central anglular zone (polar angle <i>θ</i>≤60°) corresponding to a certain numerical aperture of objective lens, and therefore can increase the intensity of the fluorescence collected by the objective lens. Based on the above performances, the antenna can provide a broadband enhancement of spontaneous emission for fluorescent molecules or quantum dots (whose fluorescence spectrum usually covers a certain wavelength range), which is of great significance for the applications such as in high-speed and super-bright nanoscale light sources and high-sensitivity fluorescent-molecule sensing.</sec><sec>To clarify the underlying physical mechanisms, we build up a semi-analytical model by considering an intuitive excitation and multiple-scattering process of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) that propagate along the antenna arms. All the parameters used in the model (such as the SPP scattering coefficients) are obtained via rigorous calculations based on the first principle of Maxwell's equations without any fitting process, which ensures that the model has a solid electromagnetic foundation and can provide quantitative predictions. The SPP model can comprehensively reproduce all the radiation properties of the antenna, such as the total radiative emission rate and the far-field radiation pattern. Two phase-matching conditions are derived from the model for predicting the antenna resonance, and show that under these conditions, the SPPs on the antenna arms form a pair of Fabry-Perot resonance and therefore are enhanced, and the enhanced SPPs propagate to the emitter in the nanogap (or scattered into the free space), so as to enhance the total spontaneous emission rate (or the far-field radiative emission rate). Besides, this pair of Fabry-Perot resonance results in a pair of resonance peaks close to each other, then enhancing the spontaneous emission with a broadband.</sec>