Subwavelength molecular opto-electronic devices based on plasmonic nano antennas

我们提出了一种新的方法，有机发光二极管（OLED）的基础上集成的多层功能分子结构到亚波长共振等离子体纳米天线。金属纳米天线不仅增强了光发射，而且同时作为电荷载流子注入的稳定电接触。这个概念的力量来自于这样一个事实，即这种混合有机/金属光电器件的关键功能，包括电荷载流子注入到分子结构中，辐射电荷载流子复合，以及最后，激发等离子体激元和发射光子，变得紧密集成到一个单一的亚波长纳米电光系统中。纳米天线的设计决定了辐射模式，发射偏振，激子寿命和光谱，从而对光子发射过程及其动力学进行基本控制。通过电寻址不同的天线区域，可以将另外的功能集成到这样的纳米像素中。图1总结了该提案的愿景，显示了在有机物传输和复合层顶部的单晶天线结构和单晶金底部接触。我们的方法可能会打开新的前景OLED的尺寸，效率，寿命和辐射特性，以及新的电泵浦等离子体混合装置一般。这种电驱动的亚波长光子源的可能应用在于例如利用非常小的像素尺寸来提供改进的图像质量的显示技术领域，并且在将来适应例如无护目镜3D技术或实现半透明显示器。我们的方法还将为在电信光谱区工作的非传统非经典光源开辟新的前景，并且通过适当的损耗管理，例如通过使用暗共振，有可能进入强耦合区，以研究电泵浦激子极化激元物理和低阈值激光。为了实现所提出的概念，我们协同联合收割机的专业知识的两个实验组。Hecht集团专门从事单晶纳米天线和等离子体。Pflaum集团在有机半导体及其在薄膜光电器件中的应用方面经验丰富。

We propose a new approach to organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) based on the integration of an ultrathin layered functional molecular architecture into subwavelength resonant plasmonic nanoantennas. The metallic nanoantenna not only enhances light emission but at the same time serves as a stable electrical contact for charge carrier injection. The power of the concept arises from the fact that the key functions of such a hybrid organic/metallic opto-electronic device, comprising charge-carrier injection into a molecular architecture, radiative charge-carrier recombination, as well as finally, the excitation of plasmons and emission of photons, become tightly integrated into a single subwavelength nano-electro-optical system. The nanoantenna design determines the radiation pattern, emission polarization, exciton lifetime and spectrum resulting in a fundamental control over the photon emission process and its dynamics. Further functionality can be integrated into such a nano-pixel by electrically addressing different antenna regions. Fig. 1 summarizes the vision of this proposal showing a single-crystalline antenna structure on top of ultrathin organic transport and recombination layers and a single-crystalline gold bottom contact. Our approach may open new perspectives for OLED size, efficiency, lifetime and radiation characteristics as well as for new electrically pumped plasmonic hybrid devices in general. Possible applications of such electrically-driven subwavelength photon sources lie e.g. in the field of display technology utilizing very small pixel dimensions to provide improved image quality and, in future, to accommodate e.g. goggle-free 3D technologies or to realize semitransparent displays. Our approach will also open new perspectives for unconventional nonclassical light sources operating in the telecom spectral region, and, by proper management of losses, e.g. by using dark resonances, it may be possible to enter the strong-coupling regime to study electrically-pumped exciton-polariton physics and low-threshold lasing. To realize the proposed concept we synergistically combine the expertise of two experimental groups. The Hecht group is specialized in single-crystalline nano-antennas and plasmonics. The Pflaum group is experienced in organic semiconductors and their implementation in thin-film opto-electronic devices.