Light-matter interaction between templated molecular layers and surface lattice resonances

We couple a templated layer of merocyanine molecules with surface lattice resonances in a plasmonic grating. The templating of the molecular layer is achieved using a layer of aligned graphene nanoribbons, resulting in anisotropic optical properties. The anisotropy manifests itself in polarization-dependent coupling between excitons in the organic layer and lattice plasmons in the grating. We study the influence of the templating on the coupling and find that surprisingly the more orientational ordered templated layer displays a lower coupling strength than an identical amorphous merocyanine layer. Our work demonstrates the use of molecular templating in controlling the interaction of excitons with excitations in optical nanostructures.