Yu, NanfangBelyanin, AlexeyBao, JimingCapasso, Federico2010-01-042009Yu, Nanfang, Alexey Belyanin, Jiming Bao, Federico Capasso. 2009. Controlled modification of erbium lifetime by near-field coupling to metallic films. New Journal of Physics 11(1): 015003.1367-2630http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:3448579Systematic measurements of the photoluminescence lifetime of the 1.54 μm transition of erbium implanted at different energies in SiO2 films with different metallic overlayers are reported. The lifetime shows a strong reduction up to a factor of 20 with decreasing distance between the erbium and the metal overlayer. The reduction of lifetime is mainly due to a near-field interaction between the erbium ions and the metal overlayers through generation of surface plasmon polaritons at the metal/SiO2 interface and direct generation of heat in the metal. These experiments combined with rigorous theoretical modeling demonstrate that a high degree of control over the radiative properties of erbium can be achieved in erbium-implanted materials in a wide range of implantation energies. The experiments also allow us to determine the radiative efficiency of erbium in bulk SiO2.en-USJournal Article2010-01-0410.1088/1367-2630/11/1/015003