Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 3, 2026

Imaging Corrosion at the Metal-Paint Interface Using Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry
Published on: May 6, 2019
Molecular Emission near Metal Interfaces: The Polaritonic Regime
Joel Yuen-Zhou1, Semion K Saikin2,3, Vinod M Menon4
1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry , University of California San Diego , La Jolla , California 92093 , United States.
Abstract:
The strong coupling of a dense layer of molecular excitons with surface-plasmon modes in a metal gives rise to polaritons (hybrid light-matter states) called plexcitons. Surface plasmons cannot directly emit into (or be excited by) free-space photons due to the fact that energy and momentum conservation cannot be simultaneously satisfied in photoluminescence. Most plexcitons are also formally nonemissive, even though they can radiate via molecules upon localization due to disorder and decoherence. However, a fraction of them are bright even in the presence of such deleterious processes. In this Letter, we theoretically discuss the superradiant emission properties of these bright plexcitons, which belong to the upper energy branch and reveal huge photoluminescence enhancements compared to bare excitons, due to near-divergences in the density of photonic modes available to them. Our study generalizes the well-known problem of molecular emission next to a metal interface to the polaritonic regime.
More Related Videos
10:52Multiscale Sampling of a Heterogeneous Water/Metal Catalyst Interface using Density Functional Theory and Force-Field Molecular Dynamics
Published on: April 12, 2019
07:39Determination of the Excitation and Coupling Rates Between Light Emitters and Surface Plasmon Polaritons
Published on: July 21, 2018
Related Concept Videos
Molecular Spectroscopy: Absorption and Emission
Alkali Metals
Table 1: Properties of the alkali metals
Emission Spectra
Metallic Solids
All metallic solids exhibit high thermal and electrical conductivity, metallic luster, and malleability....
Protein-protein Interfaces
Bonding in Metals