Resonant energy transfer between rare earth atomic layers in nanolaminate films

Förster resonant energy transfer between atoms separated at a distance of a few nanometers has strong relevance to different properties of matter. In this work, the resonant energy transfer rate is derived from the electric potential in a system with one dipole interacting with a separated 2D plane of dipoles. It shows an R-² (R: distance between dipole and 2D plane of dipoles) dependency on the distance of dipole layers, which is different from previous theoretical evaluations with an R-⁴ dependency. The electroluminescence (EL) properties are studied in different rare earth (Re: Tm, Tb, Ho, Yb, Er) distributed single atomic layer doped Al₂O₃ nanolaminates prepared by atomic layer deposition, in which the distance between single atomic layers of Re³⁺ is modulated at the atomic scale. Our theoretical results are consistent with the changes of EL intensity and decay time with the distance between the single atomic rare earth doping layers. This result is crucial for increasing the accuracy in biosensing and design of photonic materials.