  Two-dimensional molecular aggregate (2DMA), a thin sheet of strongly
interacting dipole molecules self-assembled at close distance on an ordered
lattice, is a fascinating fluorescent material. It is distinctively different
from the single or colloidal dye molecules or quantum dots in most previous
research. In this paper, we verify for the first time that when a 2DMA is
placed at a nanometric distance from a metallic substrate, the strong and
coherent interaction between the dipoles inside the 2DMA dominates its
fluorescent decay at picosecond timescale. Our streak-camera lifetime
measurement and interacting lattice-dipole calculation reveal that the
metal-mediated dipole-dipole interaction shortens the fluorescent lifetime to
about one half and increases the energy dissipation rate by ten times than
expected from the noninteracting single-dipole picture. Our finding can enrich
our understanding of nanoscale energy transfer in molecular excitonic systems
and may designate a new direction for developing fast and efficient
optoelectronic devices.
