Light-trapping plasmonic nanovoid arrays

Abstract

We consider the suitability of metallic nanovoid arrays for confining incident light and enhancing absorption in an adjacent absorbing material, such as an organic semiconductor. Such nanostructures can facilitate strong coupling of incident light into plasmonic modes localized at the surface of the metal. We investigate this system both experimentally and by performing numerical calculations. To fabricate the samples, we employ a novel imprinting technique to obtain large-area, highly ordered metallic nanovoid arrays. Strong overall absorption enhancements are measured for nanostructured samples compared to planar samples for interfaces between silver and a common organic semiconductor, phenyl-C 61-butyric acid methyl ester. Full-wave, three-dimensional finite element method simulations are employed to investigate the nature of this light trapping, and very good agreement is observed between experimental and simulated absorption spectra. The simulations reveal highly localized surface modes and indicate that the majority of the additional absorption occurs within the organic semiconductor. © 2012 American Physical Society.