Effects of Silver Island Films on the Luminescent Intensity and Decay Times of Lanthanide Chelates

We examined the emission intensity and decay times of chelates Tb³⁺ and Eu³⁺ in micron thick samples between films of sub-wavelength size silver particles. We observed modest increases in emission intensities for the complexes between the silver particles as compared to between unsilvered quartz plates. The intensity decay times were dramatically decreased by the silver particles, which was in part mediated by diffusion toward the silver particles. These results indicated that luminescent lanthanides in close proximity to silver particles display increased rates of radiative decay. The use of luminophore-metallic surface interactions provides new opportunities for creation of luminescent probes with novel spectral properties.