Giant photoluminescence enhancement in tungsten-diselenide–gold plasmonic hybrid structures

Impressive properties arise from the atomically thin nature of transition metal dichalcogenide two-dimensional materials. However, being atomically thin limits their optical absorption or emission. Hence, enhancing their photoluminescence by plasmonic nanostructures is critical for integrating these materials in optoelectronic and photonic devices. Typical photoluminescence enhancement from transition metal dichalcogenides is 100-fold, with recent enhancement of 1,000-fold achieved by simultaneously enhancing absorption, emission and directionality of the system. By suspending WSe(2) flakes onto sub-20-nm-wide trenches in gold substrate, we report a giant photoluminescence enhancement of ∼20,000-fold. It is attributed to an enhanced absorption of the pump laser due to the lateral gap plasmons confined in the trenches and the enhanced Purcell factor by the plasmonic nanostructure. This work demonstrates the feasibility of giant photoluminescence enhancement in WSe(2) with judiciously designed plasmonic nanostructures and paves a way towards the implementation of plasmon-enhanced transition metal dichalcogenide photodetectors, sensors and emitters.