Suppression of fluorescence quenching in plasmonic nanocavities

An emitter in the vicinity of an isolated metal nanoparticle is quenched by its decay through non-radiative channels, leading to a zone of inactivity for emitters placed within [ view full abstract ]

An emitter in the vicinity of an isolated metal nanoparticle is quenched by its decay through non-radiative channels, leading to a zone of inactivity for emitters placed within <10nm of the nanoparticle. Here we demonstrate that in tightly-coupled plasmonic resonators forming nanocavities quenching is suppressed due to plasmon mixing. Unlike isolated nanoparticles, plasmonic nanocavities show mode hybridization which massively enhances emitter excitation and decay via radiative channels. This creates ideal conditions for realizing and observing single-molecule strong-coupling with plasmons, evident in dynamic Rabi-oscillations and experimentally confirmed by laterally dependent emitter placement through DNA-origami.