Molecular thin film structure and multiple surface plasmon excitations at nano-interfaces in the attenuated total reflection Kretschmann configuration

Relationships between molecular thin film structure and multiple surface plasmon (SP) excitations at nano-interfaces have been investigated for prism/metal thin film/molecular thin films in the attenuated total reflection Kretschmann configuration. Recently, emission light through the prism that strongly depended upon the emission angles was observed using the reverse irradiation, that is, direct irradiation of a laser beam from air to molecular thin films. Emission light in the reverse irradiation has investigated in detail for organic thin films with various structures. From the dispersion property of the emission spectra at various emission angles, it was estimated that the emission light was caused by excitation of multiple SPs at the nano-interfaces. The emission properties also depended upon the amount of dye molecules, nano-spacing between the metal and dyes, and polarizations of the laser beam. It is thought that the phenomenon is useful for application to new devices utilizing multiple SP excitations. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.