Enhanced light output of dipole source in GaN-based nanorod light-emitting diodes by silver localized surface plasmon

The light output of dipole source in three types of light-emitting diodes (LEDs), including the conventional planar LED, the nanorod LED, and the localized surface plasmon (LSP) assisted LED by inserting silver nanoparticles in the gaps between nanorods, was studied by use of two-dimensional finite difference time domain method. The height of nanorod and the size of silver nanoparticles were variables for discussion. Simulation results show that a large height of nanorod induces strong wavelength selectivity, which can be significantly enhanced by LSP. On condition that the height of nanorod is 400 nm, the diameter of silver nanoparticle is 100 nm, and the wavelength is 402.7 nm, the light-output efficiency for LSP assisted LED is enhanced by 190% or 541% as compared to the nanorod counterpart or the planar counterpart, respectively. The space distribution of Poynting vector was present to demonstrate the significant enhancement of light output at the resonant wavelength of LSP.