Enhancement and Inhibition of Spontaneous Photon Emission by Resonant Silicon Nanoantennas

Abstract

Substituting noble metals for high-index dielectrics has recently been proposed as an alternative strategy in nanophotonics, to design broadband optical resonators and circumvent the ohmic losses of plasmonic materials. On the other hand, the authors show that subwavelength silicon nanoantennas can either enhance or inhibit spontaneous emission from fluorescent molecules, a process that is inaccessible with noble metals at the nanoscale. This study highlights the potential of dielectric resonators for low-loss near-field manipulation of solid-state emitters, at room temperature.