Surface-plasmon-coupled emission enhancement of a quantum well with a metal nanoparticle embedded in a light-emitting diode

The coupling behavior of an InGaN/GaN quantum well (QW), which is assumed to consist of an array of radiating dipoles, with the induced localized surface plasmon (LSP) resonance on an Ag nanosphere (NS) embedded in the p-type layer of a nitride light-emitting diode is demonstrated. The numerical study of the coupling behavior of an individual radiating dipole is based on an algorithm, which takes account of the induction of LSP resonance on the Ag NS by the radiating dipole and the feedback of the LSP resonance to the behavior of the radiating dipole. In this study, we first evaluate the enhancements of dipole strength and radiated power in such a coupling process for the dipoles oriented along the radial and orbital directions with respect to the Ag NS under the conditions of different distances between the radiating dipole and Ag NS. Then, the QW coupling effect is obtained through the superposition of those of the individual dipoles in the array. It is found that both the LSP dipole resonance and higher-order resonance can contribute significant radiated power enhancements to the QW-LSP coupling system. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America