ABSTRACTWe use spectroscopic imaging to investigate the enhancement of infra-red to visible upconversion in rare-earth doped nano-particles (NaYF4:Yb:Er) supported on nano-fabricated plasmonic substrates consisting of square lattices of Au nano-pillars fabricated by electron beam lithography and designed to support a surface plasmon polariton at frequencies which are nearresonant with the rare-earth ion (Yb3+) absorption. We observe a systematic enhancement in the efficiency of upconversion associated with the interaction of the co-doped nano-particles with the plasmonic substrate. Spectrally-resolved imaging provides a massively parallel means of assessing the range of achievable enhancement and its relation to the specific configuration of the substrate / upconverting nano-particle system. Spectrally-resolved reflectivity of the plasmonic substrates confirms the role of the surface plasmon polariton in the upconversion enhancement. Experimental results are compared to Finite Difference Time Domain simulations of the frequency-dependent reflectivity of these metallic nanostructures.