Leakage radiation spectroscopy of organic/dielectric/metal systems: Influence of SiO2 on exciton-surface plasmon polariton interaction

Leakage radiation spectroscopy of organic para-Hexaphenylene (p-6P) molecules has been performed in the spectral range 420-675 nm which overlaps with the p-6P photoluminescence band. The p-6P was deposited on 40 nm silver (Ag) films on BK7 glass, covered with SiO2 layers. The SiO2 layer thickness was varied in the range 5-30 nm. Domains of mutually parallelly oriented organic nanofibers were initially grown under high-vacuum conditions by molecular beam epitaxy onto a cleaved muscovite mica substrate and afterwards transferred onto the sample by a soft transfer technique. The sample placed on a flat side of a hemisphere fused silica prism with an index matching liquid was illuminated under normal incidence by a He-Cd 325 nm laser. Two orthogonal linear polarizations were used both parallel and perpendicular to the detection plane. Spectrally resolved leakage radiation was observed on the opposite side of the Ag film (i.e. at the hemisphere prism) as a function of the scattering angle. Each spectrum contains a distinct peak at a wavelength dependent angle above the critical angle. This way the dispersion curve was measured, originating from a hybrid mode, i.e. the interaction between the p-6P excitons and surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) of the metal/dielectric boundary. The presence of the SiO2 layer considerably changes the dispersion curve in comparison to the one of the Ag/p-6P/air system. However, the Ag/SiO2/p-6P/air stack forms a stable structure allowing construction of organic plasmonic devices such as nano-lasers.