Fluorescence signal of a single emitter coupled to a nanoparticle through a plasmonic film

Abstract

We study theoretically the detection of the fluorescence intensity emitted by a single emitter coupled to a nanoparticle through a metallic thin film. The coupling results from the overlap of the surface plasmon modes propagating on each interface of the film. We show that the distance between the nanoparticle and the film can be used to tune the apparent quantum yield and the radiation pattern with nanometer-scale sensitivity. Such a system is appealing from the experimental point of view since it involves simple structures that can be controlled using current scanning near-field optical techniques. It could be used to improve the detection sensitivity of molecules embedded in substrates, or to design sensitive biological or chemical plasmonic sensors.