Hybrid Photonic-Plasmonic Mode-Coupling Induced Enhancement of the Spontaneous Emission Rate of CdS/CdSe Quantum Emitters

In this paper, a hybrid photonic-plasmonic resonator, which comprises an electrospun polymer fiber with a micrometer diameter and a core/shell nanostructure with a gold nanoparticle core, is constructed to investigate the dynamics of the coupled spontaneous emission of CdS/CdSe quantum dots (QDs). The gold nanoparticle core; covered with a silica shell, anchored with individual CdS/CdSe QDs, is placed inside a hollow cylindrical nanocavity formed on the surface of the microfiber to enable integration of the optical mode with the plasmonic effect, which is induced by the localized surface plasmons of the metal nanoparticle being present in the vicinity of the dipoles. The spontaneous emission rate of the QDs, coupled into the hybrid photonic-plasmonic mode, is measured to enhance by a factor of 23 via a time-resolved experimental technique. This result suggests that the regeneration of the optical mode-field inside the photonic-plasmonic resonator through the interaction of the dipoles with the localized surface plasmons of a metal nanoparticle strongly enhances the density of the electromagnetic states of the quantum emitters to facilitate an enhanced spontaneous emission within the host medium of the proposed polymer based-photonic structure.