Enhanced fluorescence on a photonic crystal surface incorporating nanorod structures

The enhancement of fluorescence on a photonic crystal (PC) surface through application of a dielectric nanorod film to the device was demonstrated. The PC fabrication was followed by the glancing-angle deposition (GLAD) technique that was used to apply nanorod-structured TiO₂ with eight different thicknesses ranging from 15 to 277 nm onto the PC surface by electron-beam deposition. The overall enhancement of fluorescence intensity is found to be due to a combination of enhanced near-electric fields. It is also observed that the observed degree of taper in the nanorod structure increases with thickness, which could make the diffusion of molecules more difficult. It is also shown that the overall intensity of the near electric field changes with nanorod thicknesses, while the spatial distribution remains the same.