The electromagnetic field confinement and amplification typical of nano-sized metallic objects supporting localized surface plasmon resonances, i.e., light-induced collective electronic oscillations, can significantly strengthen the interaction of light with atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides. In view of the realization of plasmon-enhanced devices, it is crucial to investigate the effects induced by light confinement within metallic nanostructures on the excitonic properties of these materials at the nanoscale. Here, we exploit tip-enhanced photoluminescence spectroscopy to locally control the excitons of monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) coupled with gold nanotriangles in the quantum tunneling regime. The spatial resolution of 10 nm in the tip-enhanced photoluminescence measurements made it possible to image the light-emission related properties of monolayer MoS₂ across one single metallic nanostructure and to investigate the effect of the plasmonic enhancement on its photoluminescence peak. Moreover, by taking advantage of the degree of freedom given by the tuning of the tip-sample distance; it was possible to probe the effect of the plasmonic pico-cavity size on the photoluminescence quenching rate of monolayer MoS₂.

Semiconducting nanoplatelets (NPLs) have attracted great attention due to the superior photophysical properties compared to their quantum dot analogs. Understanding and tuning the optical and electronic properties of NPLs in a plasmonic environment is a new paradigm in the field of optoelectronics. Here, we report on the resonant plasmon enhancement of light emission including Raman scattering and photoluminescence from colloidal CdSe/CdS nanoplatelets deposited on arrays of Au nanodisks fabricated by electron beam lithography. The localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of the Au nanodisk arrays can be tuned by varying the diameter of the disks. In the case of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), the Raman intensity profile follows a symmetric Gaussian shape matching the LSPR of the Au nanodisk arrays. The surface-enhanced photoluminescence (SEPL) profile of NPLs, however, follows an asymmetric Gaussian distribution highlighting a compromise between the excitation and emission enhancement mechanisms originating from energy transfer and Purcell effects. The SERS and SEPL enhancement factors depend on the nanodisk size and reach maximal values at 75 and 7, respectively, for the sizes, for which the LSPR energy of Au nanodisks coincides with interband transition energies in the semiconductor platelets. Finally, to explain the origin of the resonant enhancement behavior of SERS and SEPL, we apply a numerical simulation to calculate plasmon energies in Au nanodisk arrays and emission spectra from NPLs in such a plasmonic environment.

We demonstrated resonant/non-resonant gap-mode TERS on CdSe nanocrystals analyzing of LO (up to 3rd order), SO/TO phonons, as well as Se vibrational modes.

This work presents an overview of the latest results and new data on the optical response from spherical CdSe nanocrystals (NCs) obtained using surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and tip-enhanced Raman scattering (TERS). SERS is based on the enhancement of the phonon response from nanoobjects such as molecules or inorganic nanostructures placed on metal nanostructured substrates with a localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). A drastic SERS enhancement for optical phonons in semiconductor nanostructures can be achieved by a proper choice of the plasmonic substrate, for which the LSPR energy coincides with the laser excitation energy. The resonant enhancement of the optical response makes it possible to detect mono- and submonolayer coatings of CdSe NCs. The combination of Raman scattering with atomic force microscopy (AFM) using a metallized probe represents the basis of TERS from semiconductor nanostructures and makes it possible to investigate their phonon properties with nanoscale spatial resolution. Gap-mode TERS provides further enhancement of Raman scattering by optical phonon modes of CdSe NCs with nanometer spatial resolution due to the highly localized electric field in the gap between the metal AFM tip and a plasmonic substrate and opens new pathways for the optical characterization of single semiconductor nanostructures and for revealing details of their phonon spectrum at the nanometer scale.

Microellipsometric investigations of metal–insulator–metal (MIM) structures with regular square lattices of nanocylinders as one metallic layer are presented together with a theoretical description of all dipolar interactions in such a system. A comparison between the theoretical and experimental results is made, which clearly demonstrates the influence of surface plasmon on the optical properties of such MIM systems. The hybridization of localized and surface plasmon modes is revealed.