The role of Rayleigh anomalies in the coupling process of plasmonic gratings and the control of the emission properties of organic molecules

Abstract

Abstract We report the investigation of the influence of periodic metallic arrays on the emission properties of organic emitters. Beforehand, the study of the coupling process between nanoparticles through the analysis of the extinction spectra related to Rayleigh anomalies indicate the crucial role of those latter in defining the nature of the excited grating modes. The obtained results emphasis that Rayleigh Anomalies can be considered as the intermediate between individual plasmonic and collective photonic responses. Thereafter, the experimental and numerical studies of the lattice modes and their associated effects on the lifetime and emission directivity of nearby emitters indicate that tuning the geometrical grating parameters offers a possibility to select a particular coupling process from a localized effect to a far field response. Depending on the coupling strength, the emission can be strongly altered by increasing the density of states or providing diffractive orders. Eventually, this study reports that the Rayleigh Anomalies play the role of an excitation source which drives the nanoparticles to act as a set of diffractive objects for shaping the emission to be highly directive.