CRC 951/3: Plasmonic Tunnel Junctions for Infrared Photon Creation and Detection (SP B18)

The central goal of this project is to realize an ultra-small light source or detector for infrared photons. To this end, we pursue the construction of a resonant tunnel junction with extreme plasmonic enhancement. To achieve this goal, we utilize tunnel junctions that form in the narrow gap of an electrically contacted plasmonic nanoparticle-on-mirror (NPoM) antenna. A specifically designed hybrid inorganic/organic system (HIOS) (with suitably aligned energy levels) placed inside the gap enables a high photon extraction or detection yield.