The plasmon resonance of small-diameter metal nanoparticles has a unique decay character, as it produces almost no far field scattering. Instead, most of the absorbed light is emitted in the near field (NF), phenomenon also known as strong field localization. Such non-radiative emission is short lived and decays primarily via the production of heat, which prevents efficient harvesting of the NF energy.Here, we demonstrate a general strategy for coupling the NF radiation of surface plasmons to long-lived optical excitations in semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs). This concept was manifested through the observation of an enhanced exciton generation in CdSe NCs coupled to 5-nm Au nanoparticles. To distinguish the plasmon antenna effect from photoinduced charge transfer processes, both Au and CdSe nanoparticles were encapsulated into insulating CdS or ZnS matrices. A unique signature of the plasmon to exciton energy transfer was observed in photoexcitation measurements that unambiguously correlate the increase in the CdSe exciton population with the excitation of plasmon modes in Au domains. The demonstrated scheme for harvesting the NF radiation of metal nanoparticles presents an excellent opportunity for extracting the evanescent emission of surface plasmons that can find practical applications in photovoltaic or photocatalytic technologies.

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