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Highly Nonlinear Luminescence Induced by Gold Nanoparticles on Glass Surfaces with Continuous-Wave Laser Illumination

We report on highly nonlinear luminescence being observed from individual spherical gold nanoparticles immobilized on a glass surface and illuminated by continuous-wave (CW) lasers with relatively low power. The nonlinear luminescence shows optical super-resolution beyond the diffraction limit in three dimensions compared to the scatting of the excitation laser light. The luminescence intensity from most nanoparticles is proportional to the 5th--7th power of the excitation laser power and has wide excitation and emission spectra across the visible wavelength range. Strong nonlinear luminescence is only observed near the glass surface. High optical nonlinearity excited by low CW laser power is related to a long-lived dark state of the gold nanoparticles, where the excitation light is strongly absorbed. This phenomenon has potential biological applications in super-resolution and deep tissue imaging.