title: Design of plasmonic nanoantennae for enhancing spontaneous emission.
abstract: We apply two- and three-dimensional numerical calculations to study optical nanoantennae made of two coupled gold nanostructures, enclosing a single emitter in their gap. We show that, using structures manufacturable with today's nanotechnology, it is possible to increase the radiative decay rate by three orders of magnitude while keeping a quantum efficiency larger than 80% in the near-infrared regime. We examine the competition between the radiative and nonradiative processes in the presence of the antennae as a function of wavelength and antenna geometry. Our results hold great promise for improving the quantum efficiency of poor emitters such as silicon nanocrystals or carbon nanotubes.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Lavinia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rogobete
authors.forename: Franziska
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kaminski
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Agio
authors.forename: Vahid
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sandoghdar