Multiple surface plasmon excitations and nanostructured devices of organic ultrathin films

Surface plasmon (SP) excitations have been investigated in the attenuated total reflection (ATR) Kretschmann configuration of prism/metal/organic ultrathin films. Structure and optical properties of organic ultrathin films have been evaluated using the ATR measurement due to SP excitations. Recently, emission light through the prism was observed using direct irradiation of a laser beam from air to the organic films, that is, reverse irradiation. The emission spectra strongly depended upon the emission angles through the prism and were caused by multiple SP excitations. The emission properties also depend upon structure of metal and organic thin films, dye molecules, separation between metal and molecules, molecular interaction, and so on. It is thought that the phenomenon is useful for application to new devices utilizing multiple SP excitations, and nanostructured devices of organic films using multiple SP excitations are described.