A novel strategy for improving upconversion luminescence of NaYF4：Yb, Er nanocrystals by coupling with hybrids of silver plasmon nanostructures and poly（methyl methacrylate） photonic crystals

The coupling of upconversion nanophosphors （UCNPs） with the surface plasmonic resonance （SPR） of noble metals is a promising way to improve luminescent efficiency of UCNPs; however, it is still a challenge to achieve stable, reproducible and effective upconversion luminescence （UCL） enhancement through such coupling. In this work, we present a novel strategy to improve UCL of NaYF4：ybB,Er3. UCNPs, by combining the near-field coupling of SPR of silver and the far-field coupling of poly（methyl methacrylate） （PMMA） opal photonic crystals （OPCs） with the UCNPs. In order to control the effective interaction distance between the UCNPs and the SPR, a porous silver film consisting of randomly distributed silver nanoparticles （NPs） （〉 100 nm） was prepared which demonstrated strong SPR over a broad wavelength range, and its coupling to the UCNPs was found to be much stronger than that of a dense film. In the far-field coupling of OPCs, the photonic stop band （PSB） of the PMMA OPCs was tuned to 980 nm, matching exactly the excitation light. By modulating the particle size of the UCNPs, and the direction and excitation power of the incident light, a maximum enhancement of 60-fold was observed, which is an important advance for metaMnduced UCL enhancement systems.

Refractive Index Sensor Based on Fano Resonances in Plasmonic Waveguide With Dual Side-Coupled Ring Resonators

A refractive index sensor based on Fano resonances in metal-insulator-metal （MIM） waveguides coupled with rectangular and dual side rings resonators is proposed. The sensing properties are numerically simulated by the finite element method （FEM）. For the interaction of the narrow-band spectral response and the broadband spectral response caused by the side-coupled resonators and the rectangular resonator, respectively, the transmission spectra exhibit a sharp and asymmetric profile. Results are analyzed using the coupled-mode theory based on the transmission line theory. The coupled mode theory is employed to explain the Fano resonance effect. The results show that with an increase in the refractive index of the fill dielectric material in the slot of the system, the Fano resonance peak exhibits a remarkable red shift. Through the optimization of structural parameters, we achieve a theoretical value of the refractive index sensitivity （S） as high as 1160 nm/RIU, and the corresponding sensing resolution is 8.62 × 10 -5 RIU. In addition, the coupled MIM waveguide structure can be easily extended to other similar compact structures to realize the sensing task and integrated with other photonic devices at the chip scale. This work paves the way toward the sensitive nanometer scale refractive index sensor for design and application.