title: Fluorescence enhancement from an array of subwavelength metal apertures.
abstract: We report the resonant excitation of a fluorescing molecular monolayer applied to a periodic array of subwavelength apertures in a metal film. The peak fluorescence occurs under conditions of maximum transmission of the excitation light, which indicates strong enhancement of the incident light within the apertures under resonant conditions. Fluorescence output normalized to the aperture fill fraction is enhanced by nearly 40 times, and the rate of photobleaching is increased by approximately a factor of 2, suggesting an increase in the fluorescence yield.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112-9206, USA.
authors.forename: Yongdong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Steve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Blair
mesh_terms: D005453:Fluorescence; D008027:Light; D008670:Metals; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D038761:Photobleaching
chemical_list: D008670:Metals