Highly enhanced green emission from InGaN quantum wells due to surface plasmon resonance on aluminum films

Photoluminescence (PL) from InGaN/GaN quantum wells was highly enhanced by the surface plasmon (SP) resonance on aluminum thin films. The enhancement ratio of green emission reached 80, which was much larger than the previously reported enhancements on silver films. The resulting large enhancement should be attributed to an ∼20-fold enhancement of the excitation efficiency and ∼4-fold enhancement of the emission efficiency by the excitation and emission spectra. The temperature dependence of the PL intensities and the time-resolved PL measurements were also performed to understand the detailed mechanism. We concluded that the resonance between the excitation light and the SP on the Al surface should improve the excitation efficiency, i.e., the light absorption efficiency. This result suggests that the Al films have an extraordinary photon confinement effect, which are unique properties of plasmonics with Al and should be useful for new and wider applications.