Optical Energy Transfer from Photonic Nanowire to Plasmonic Nanowire

Rational and versatile transfer of optical energy from photonic nanowire to plasmonic nanowire is highly desirable and extremely challengeable. Herein, we demonstrate that optical energy transfer from CdSe–ZnS core–shell quantum dots doped polymer photonic nanowire to silver plasmonic nanowire with an efficiency of 32 ± 1.5% via the Förster resonance energy transfer process. The quantum dots with an emission at 650 nm wavelength were embedded in polymer nanowire and were excited by a 532 nm green laser. In the crossing region of the photonic nanowire and plasmonic nanowire, propagated surface plasmons of silver nanowire can be effectively excited by the emitted light from quantum dots embedded in polymer nanowire. This energy transfer between photonic and plasmonic nanowires would provide potential applications in optical interconnection.