Enhancement of spontaneous emission rate in nitrides by resonant surface plasmon coupling

Abstract

Summary form only given. The spontaneous emission (SE) rate of a system may be modified by altering the photon density of states (P-DOS) and the local strength of the electromagnetic modes. The P-DOS and the SE rate can also be modified when emitters are coupled to a surface plasmon (SP) of a metallic film. A single QW (SQW) can experience strong quantum electrodynamical coupling to a SP mode if placed within the SP fringing field penetration depth. The photoluminescence (PL) decay rate from a photoexcited QW is related to the SE rate. A broad PL peak is observed from the unsilvered InGaN SQW at 2.75 eV, along with smaller peaks at 3.2 eV and 3.4 eV from the InGaN reference layer and the GaN buffer layer, respectively.