A central goal of IRG-4 is to use collective interactions between dissimilar nanocrystals to enhance the performance of their assemblies.

Here we demonstrate plasmonic enhancement of optical upconversion luminescence within nanorod-nanophosphor heterodimers (Fig 1a-c).

Using experiment and theory we are able to develop design rules for optimizing heterodimer geometry.

The templated assembly process (Fig 1d-e) can be used for many other nanocrystal building blocks and for larger assemblies.

Figure 1 – (a) SEM image of a nanorod/nanophosphor heterodimer created using template-assisted self-assembly. Upconverted light emission for excitation polarization (b) longitudinal and (c) transverse to the nanorod axis. Strong emission for longitudinal polarization reflects plasmonic enhancement of absorption. Schematics showing the (d) “squeegee” and (e) capillary template-assembly methods developed.