Plasmonic enhancement of molecular fluorescence.

Metallic nanoparticles are known to dramatically modify the spontaneous emission of nearby fluorescent molecules and materials. Here we examine the role of the nanoparticle plasmon resonance energy and nanoparticle scattering cross section on the fluorescence enhancement of adjacent indocyanine green (ICG) dye molecules. We find that enhancement of the molecular fluorescence by more than a factor of 50 can be achieved for ICG next to a nanoparticle with a large scattering cross section and a plasmon resonance frequency corresponding to the emission frequency of the molecule.