Photoluminescence of Fullerene C60 Thin Film in Plasmon-Coupled Monolayer of Au Nanoparticles – C 60 Film – Al Film Nanostructure

Abstract

The plasmon-enhanced photoluminescence of fullerene C60 thin film has been studied to reveal the dependence of the magnitude of plasmonic field in coupled nanosystem monolayer of gold nanoparticles – fullerene C 60 film – aluminum film on the thickness of the fullerene spacer in the range of 10–95 nm. The non-monotonic dependence of the photoluminescence enhancement factor with minimum at the fullerene film thickness of 50 nm has been observed. Such dependence has been explained as the result of excitation of the propagating surface plasmon polaritons in aluminum film by the near field of localized surface plasmons of gold nanoparticles. The excitation of polaritons leads to additional radiative damping of plasmonic oscillations in gold nanoparticles that causes the decrease of the enhancement factor of the intensity of fullerene photoluminescence. Fifty nanometers is revealed to be the spacer thickness at which the most effective excitation of surface plasmon polaritons occurs.