Metallic nanoparticles enhanced the spontaneous emission of semiconductor nanocrystals embedded in nanoimprinted photonic crystals

We report on a method to enhance the light-emission efficiency of printable thin films of a polymer doped with luminescent (CdSe)ZnS nanocrystals via metallic nanoparticles and nanoimprinted photonic crystals. We experimentally show a strong fluorescence enhancement of nanocrystals by coupling exciton-plasmon with the localized surface plasmon of metallic nanoparticles. The emitted light is efficiently diffracted by photonic crystals structures directly imprinted in the nanocomposite polymer. By combining the field susceptibility technique with optical Bloch equations, we examine the interaction of the quantum and plasmonic entities at small distances. © 2013 The Royal Society of Chemistry