Modification of light-matter interaction in nanostructures: From basic physics towards applications

The paper summarizes the state-of-the-art and potential application of modified light—matter interaction in metal-dielectric nanostructures. Local incident field enhancement and density of states enhancement makes feasible Raman scattering increase by many orders of the magnitude and fluorescence intensity rise up by 1-2 orders of the magnitude. The effects can be used in routine analytical practice. In case of Raman spectroscopy, enhanced response offers a possibility to use simple and cheap devices up to primitive filter based instruments for specific tasks. In case of luminescence enhancement not only analytical techniques can be improved, e.g. in medicine but also light emitting devices can be developed with spectral converters based on plasmonic effects.

Keywords:

plasmonics , Raman spectroscopy , fluorescence