Plasmonic-enhanced emission has been moved toward practical application by the demonstration of an electrically pumped light emitting diode (LED) whose emission properties far exceed state-of-the-art.

This LED could greatly improve the cost and efficiency of remote sensing systems and infrared screens. The sensor can pick up things people can’t see, such as gas leaks in pipelines and excessive emissions from smoke-stacks. The ability to easily optically inspect for leaks in gas pipelines represent an important step forward in environmental monitoring. Existing sources are expensive and too low of power for such applications. 

Typically for LEDs, the semiconductor material is first grown and then encapsulated in such a way that the emitted light is directed outward. Here, the semiconductor underneath the LED active region (where light is actually produced) was doped, effectively turning it into a metal, simplifying processing and improving device performance by a factor of 5. 

Consistent with the goals of MGI, this work leverages fundamental and new material phenomena for real-world applications.