Tunable plasmonic luminescence in reconfigurable metamaterials

Abstract

We show that new intense luminescence lines associated with transitions from collective plasmonic states below the Fermi level can be artificially created by metamaterial nanostructuring of plasmonic metals and tuned by nanoscale reconfiguration of metamaterial. We report on the experimental demonstration of a new radiation phenomenon on the nanoscale and its engineering into a reconfigurable metadevice: luminescence emission lines within the Fermi sea can be created by nanopatterning metal surfaces and controlled by external electrical inputs. Luminescence emission lines are associated with the decay of plasmonic excitation and are spectrally linked to the plasmonic absorption lines. Wavelength, polarization and intensity of metallic luminescence can be flexibly and independently adjusted by tweaking the geometric parameters of the metamaterial design similar to the way nanostructuring helps engineering semiconductor multiple quantum well and quantum dot luminescence