Plasmon-polariton induced modification of silicon nanocrystals photoluminescence in presence of gold nanostripes

We report the results of theoretical and experimental studies of photoluminescence of silicon nanocrystals in the proximity of plasmonic modes of different types. In our samples, the type of plasmonic mode is determined by the filling ratio of a one-dimensional gold grating which covers the thin film with silicon nanocrystals on a quartz substrate. We analyze the extinction and photoluminesce spectra of silicon nanocrystals and show that the emitted light is coupled to the corresponding plasmonic mode. We also demonstrate the modification of the extinction and photoluminesce spectra under the transition from surface plasmon-polaritons to waveguide plasmon-polaritons with the decrease of the gold filling ratio from 1 to 0.35. Finally, we analyze the contribution of individual silicon nanocrystals to the overall photoluminescence intensity. We conclude that silicon nanocrystals ensemble can be broken down into optically bright and optically dark nanocrystals. The experimental extinction and photoluminescence spectra are in good agreement with theoretical calculations performed by the Fourier modal method in the scattering matrix form.