Near-Field Resonance at Far-Field Anti-Resonance: Plasmonically Enhanced Light Emission with Minimum Scattering Nanoantennas

We demonstrate that a periodic array of optical antennas sustains a resonant Near-Field (NF) and an anti-resonant Far-Field (FF) at the same energy and in-plane momentum. This phenomenon arises in the context of coupled plasmonic lattice resonances, whose bright and dark character is interchanged at a critical antenna length. The energies of these modes anti-cross in the FF, but cross in the NF. Hence, we observe an extremely narrow bandwidth emission enhancement from quantum dots in the proximity of the array, while the antennas scatter minimally into the FF. Simulations reveal that a standing wave with a quadrupolar field distribution is the origin of this dark collective resonance.