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Efficient manipulation of the emission direction of a chiral nanoscale light source is significant for information transmission and on-chip information processing. Here, we propose a scheme to control the directionality of nanoscale chiral light sources based on gap plasmons. The gap plasmon mode formed by a gold nanorod and a silver nanowire realizes the highly directional emission of chiral light sources. Based on the optical spin-locked light propagation, the hybrid structure enables the directional coupling of chiral emission to achieve a contrast ratio of 99.5%. The emission direction can be manipulated by tailoring the configuration of the structure, such as the positions, aspect ratios, and orientation of the nanorod. Besides, a great local field enhancement exists for highly enhanced emission rates within the nanogap. This chiral nanoscale light source manipulation scheme provides a way for chiral valleytronics and integrated photonics.

Plasmon decay via the surface or interface is a critical process for practical energy conversion and plasmonic catalysis. However, the relationship between plasmon damping and the coupling between the plasmon and 2D materials is still unclear. The spectral splitting due to plasmon-exciton interaction impedes the conventional single-particle method to evaluate the plasmon damping rate by the spectral linewidth directly. Here, we investigated the interaction between a single gold nanorod (GNR) and 2D materials using the single-particle spectroscopy method assisted with in situ nanomanipulation technique by comparing scattering intensity and linewidth together. Our approach allows us to indisputably identify that the plasmon-exciton coupling in the GNR-WSe2 hybrid would induce plasmon damping. We can also isolate the contribution between the charge transfer channel and resonant energy transfer channel for the plasmon decay in the GNR-graphene hybrid by comparing that with thin hBN layers as an intermediate medium to block the charge transfer. We find out that the contact layer between the GNR and 2D materials contributes most of the interfacial plasmon damping. These findings contribute to a deep understanding of interfacial excitonic effects on the plasmon and 2D materials hybrid.

A surrounding electromagnetic environment can engineer spontaneous emissions from quantum emitters through the Purcell effect. For instance, a plasmonic antenna can efficiently confine an electromagnetic field and enhance the fluorescent process. In this study, we demonstrate that a photonic microcavity can modulate plasmon-enhanced fluorescence by engineering the local electromagnetic environment. Consequently, we constructed a plasmon-enhanced emitter (PE-emitter), which comprised a nanorod and a nanodiamond, using the nanomanipulation technique. Furthermore, we controlled a polystyrene sphere approaching the PE-emitter and investigated in situ the associated fluorescent spectrum and lifetime. The emission of PE-emitter can be enhanced resonantly at the photonic modes as compared to that within the free spectral range. The spectral shape modulated by photonic modes is independent of the separation between the PS sphere and PE-emitter. The band integral of the fluorescence decay rate can be enhanced or suppressed after the PS sphere couples to the PE-emitters, depending on the coupling strength between the plasmonic antenna and the photonic cavity. These findings can be utilized in sensing and imaging applications., Comment: 4 figures. 14 pages. Accepted by Chinese physics B

The phase delay of a local electric field, being well-known in plasmonic nanostructures, has seldom been investigated to modulate the plasmon-exciton interaction. Here, with the single-particle spectroscopy method, we experimentally investigate the phase effect in plasmon-exciton coupling systems consisting of monolayer WSe2 and an individual gold nanorod. The local plasmon phase delay is tuned by adopting various nanorods with different resonant energies respective to the exciton. We find that the local plasmon phase delay between the excitons and the plasmonic modes is as equally essential as the amplitude. The phase delay modulates the plasmon-exciton coupling considerably, resulting in an asymmetric spectral line-shape due to the interference behavior. There is an excellent agreement for the phase delay between the numerically calculated near-field phase distribution and the experimental results. The local phase delay can act as an effective way to modulate the properties of plexcitonic coupling at the nanoscale, which may have potential applications in nanoscale sensing, solar energy devices, and enhancing nonlinear processes.