Polarisation to colour transformation via nano-antenna enhanced quantum dot emission

Abstract

Metallic nano-antennas have been shown to be an excellent candidate for enhancing and directing optical emission from semiconductor based quantum dots (QD). QD photoluminescence (PL) enhancement is achieved by placing a suitably orientated QD in the near-field of a resonant metallic nano-antenna. Through the careful design of an optical Vee-antenna, two distinct visible resonances can be obtained, enabling the polarization dependant enhancement of two different QD sources, thus producing a polarization-to-colour transformation at the nano-scale. Possible future applications include an optical nano-scale demultiplexer device.