Controlling spontaneous emission with plasmonic optical patch antennas

We experimentally demonstrate the control of the spontaneous emission rate and the radiation pattern of colloidal quantum dots deterministically positioned in a plasmonic patch antenna. The antenna consists of a thin gold microdisk 30 nm above a thick gold layer. The emitters are shown to radiate through the entire patch antenna in a highly directional and vertical radiation pattern. Strong acceleration of spontaneous emission is observed, depending of the antenna size. Considering the double dipole structure of the emitters, this corresponds to a Purcell factor up to 80 for dipoles perpendicular to the disk.