Photon Upconversion with Hot Carriers in Plasmonic Systems

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new photon upconversion method using plasmonic hot carriers, achieving high efficiency and spectral tunability without coherent light, promising advancements in optical technologies.

Contribution

It presents a theoretical scheme for photon upconversion utilizing plasmonic hot carriers, with detailed efficiency analysis and advantages over existing methods.

Findings

Upconversion quantum efficiency up to 25% in 5 nm silver nanocubes.

Linear operation without coherent illumination.

More efficient than conventional upconverters.

Abstract

We propose a novel scheme of photon upconversion based on harnessing the energy of plasmonic hot carriers. Low-energy photons excite hot electrons and hot holes in a plasmonic nanoparticle, which are then injected into an adjacent semiconductor quantum well where they radiatively recombine to emit a photon of higher energy. We theoretically study the proposed upconversion scheme using Fermi-liquid theory and determine the upconversion quantum efficiency to be as high as 25% in 5 nm silver nanocubes. This upconversion scheme is linear in its operation, does not require coherent illumination, offers spectral tunability, and is more efficient than conventional upconverters.