TY - JOUR
T1 - Theory of Visible Light Emission from Scanning Tunneling Microscope
AU - Uehara, Yoichi
AU - Kimura, Yuichi
AU - Takeuchi, Sukekatsu Ushioda
AU - Akeuchi, Koichiro T.
PY - 1992/8
Y1 - 1992/8
N2 - The mechanism for visible light emission from the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) has been investigated theoretically by adapting a theory for light emitting tunnel junctions (LETJ). From the analysis of the calculated results and available experimental data, the following picture emerges. The tunneling current first excites localized surface plasmons (LSP) that are localized in a region of a few tens of Angstroms between the STM tip-front and the sample surface. Some of them decay into surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) that propagate along the sample surface. There are two channels of light emission: one is direct emission from LSP and the other is emission through SPP. The relative branching ratio between these two channels depends on the experimental configuration. The effect of sample surface roughness is very small and negligible.
AB - The mechanism for visible light emission from the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) has been investigated theoretically by adapting a theory for light emitting tunnel junctions (LETJ). From the analysis of the calculated results and available experimental data, the following picture emerges. The tunneling current first excites localized surface plasmons (LSP) that are localized in a region of a few tens of Angstroms between the STM tip-front and the sample surface. Some of them decay into surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) that propagate along the sample surface. There are two channels of light emission: one is direct emission from LSP and the other is emission through SPP. The relative branching ratio between these two channels depends on the experimental configuration. The effect of sample surface roughness is very small and negligible.
KW - Light emission
KW - Local surface plasmon
KW - STM
KW - Surface plasmon polariton
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0026900560&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0026900560&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1143/JJAP.31.2465
DO - 10.1143/JJAP.31.2465
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0026900560
VL - 31
SP - 2465
EP - 2469
JO - Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Part 1: Regular Papers & Short Notes
JF - Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Part 1: Regular Papers & Short Notes
SN - 0021-4922
IS - 8 R
ER -