Photoluminescence and Surface Plasmon Emission Light in Kretschmann Configuration of Nanostructured Rhodamine B LB Films

Abstract

Photoluminescence and surface plasmon emission light have been investigated in the attenuated total reflection (ATR) Kretschmann configuration. Surface plasmons (SPs), two-dimensional optical waves, were excited when rhodamine-B (RB) dye Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films on metal thin film were directly irradiated by laser beams in the Kretschmann configuration. Emission light, that is, three-dimensional optical waves through the prism were observed corresponding to the resonant conditions of SP excitations in the configuration. The intensity of the SP emission light was small for the RB LB film with 4 layers, but the intensities increased in proportion to the thickness for the LB films having above 8 layers. Photoluminescence intensities also strongly depended upon the nanostructured separation between the RB LB films and metal thin films. It is thought that the phenomena are very useful for applications utilizing dye molecules on metal and conversion between three- and two-dimensional optical waves.