Anisotropic enhancement of Yb3+ luminescence by disordered plasmonic networks self-assembled on RbTiOPO4 ferroelectric crystals.

Increasing Yb3+ absorption efficiency is currently desired in a number of applications including bio-imaging, photovoltaics, near infrared driven photocatalysis or ultra-short pulsed solid-state lasers. In this work, silver nanoparticles, which are connected forming disordered networks, have been self-assembled on Yb3+ doped RbTiOPO4 crystals to produce a remarkable enhancement of Yb3+ absorption, and hence in the photoluminescence of this ion. The results are interpreted taking into account the near-field response of the plasmonic networks, which display strong amplification of the electric field at the maximum of Yb3+ excitation at around 900 nm, together with the anisotropic character of the Yb3+ transitions in RbTiOPO4. We show that in the near field regime, the scattering of the plasmonic networks produces additional polarization field components to those of the incident field, which allows access to the largest transition dipolar moment of Yb3+ ions in RbTiOPO4. As a result, a much more efficient route for Yb3+ excitation takes place at the immediacy of the plasmonic networks. This work provides fundamental insights for improving the optical properties of rare earth ions by the suitable design of metallic nanoparticle arrangements, and constitutes a promising step towards the development of new multifunctional solid-state lasers.