High-Resolution Imaging of Electric Field Enhancement and Energy-Transfer Quenching by a Single Silver Nanowire Using QD-Modified AFM Tips

Plasmonic nanostructures can profoundly affect the optical properties of light absorbers and emitters. Using quantum dot-modified-atomic force microscopy (AFM) tips as a nanoscale light source, the topological features of a Ag nanowire and its effect on the fluorescence intensity and lifetime of the QDs can be simultaneously imaged with AFM spatial resolution. Modeling of the QD–nanowire interaction and the contrasts in the fluorescence intensity and lifetime images suggests that this novel method can be used for direct high-resolution mapping of the electric field distributions and energy-transfer quenching near metallic nanostructures.