Simulation study on the enhancement of resonance energy transfer through surface plasmon coupling in a GaN porous structure

Abstract

To understand the behavior of resonance energy transfer from a quantum well (donor) into a quantum dot (acceptor) located inside an oriented subsurface tubular void above the quantum well, the emission and energy transfer enhancements of the donor and acceptor dipoles are numerically studied. By reasonably assuming that the acceptor absorption efficiency is not influenced by the surface plasmon (SP) resonance of a nearby metal nanostructure, the acceptor absorption enhancement through SP coupling is proportional to the increase ratio of the donor-induced field intensity at the acceptor position. Therefore, the energy transfer enhancement can be obtained by multiplying this field intensity ratio with the radiated power ratio of the acceptor between the two cases under comparison. It is found that the emission and energy transfer enhancements are significantly higher when the orientations of the donor and acceptor dipoles are perpendicular to the void tube, in comparison with those in the case of parallel orientation. The differences in emission and energy transfer between the two dipole-orientation cases become larger when a surface Ag nanoparticle is applied to the sample for inducing SP coupling. The oriented subsurface tubular void can lead to a polarization-dependent energy transfer behavior.