Doubly and triply coupled nanowire antennas

Abstract

Nanoantenna is one of the most important optical components for light harvesting. In this study, we show experimental evidence of interactions between coupled nanowires by comparing the fluorescence properties of quantum dots on both non-coupled (single) and coupled (double and triple) nanowire arrays. The fluorescence intensities are dependent on the excitation polarization, and most of the emissions are polarized perpendicular to the long axis of the nanowires. It is interesting that both the excitation polarization dependent enhancement and the fluorescence polarization effect are more pronounced for coupled nanowires. Our theoretical analysis indicates the above phenomena can be ascribed to the dipolar plasmon from the nanowire antennas. Our investigations demonstrate a potential method to control the polarization of emitters using coupled nanowire arrays.