Extraordinary All-Dielectric Light Enhancement over Large Volumes

Abstract

We present resonant dielectric structures exhibiting arbitrarily large optical field enhancement, only limited by fabrication imperfections. Three different arrangements are investigated, based upon dielectric waveguides, dielectric particle arrays, and a combination of these two structures. Experimental confirmation of enhancement in a waveguide resonator is achieved by measuring the luminescence of quantum dots dispersed in the hot optical region of the structure. The performance of these systems can be readily controlled by simply changing geometrical parameters, which allows obtaining remarkable values of the intensity enhancement approaching 10^5 relative to the incident intensity over large volumes under feasible experimental conditions. This opens new avenues for all-optical switching and biosensing. © 2010 American Chemical Society.