Far field photoluminescence imaging of single AlGaN nanowire in the sub-wavelength scale using confinement of polarized light

Till now the nanoscale focusing and imaging in the sub-diffraction limit is achieved mainly with the help of plasmonic field enhancement by confining the light assisted with noble metal nanostructures. Using far field imaging technique, we have recorded polarized spectroscopic photoluminescence (PL) imaging of a single AlGaN nanowire (NW) of diameter ∝100 nm using confinement of polarized light. It is found that the PL from a single NW is influenced by the proximity to other NWs. The PL intensity is proportional to 1/(l x d), where l and d are the average NW length and separation between the NWs, respectively. We suggest that the proximity induced PL intensity enhancement can be understood by assuming the existence of reasonably long lived photons in the intervening space between the NWs. A nonzero non-equilibrium population of such photons may cause stimulated emission leading to the enhancement of PL emission with the intensity proportional to 1/(l x d). The enhancement of PL emission facilitates far field spectroscopic imaging of a single semiconductor AlGaN NW of sub-wavelength dimension. (copyright 2016 by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)