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Efros, Alexander L.

Publications and source records attributed to Efros, Alexander L..

7 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Single-photon superradiance in individual caesium lead halide quantum dots

The brightness of an emitter is ultimately described by Fermi’s golden rule, with a radiative rate proportional to its oscillator strength times the local density of photonic states. As the oscillator strength is an intrinsic material property, the quest for ever brighter emission has relied on the local density of photonic states engineering, using dielectric or plasmonic resonators. By contrast, a much less explored avenue is to boost the oscillator strength, and hence the emission rate, using a collective behaviour termed superradiance. Recently, it was proposed that the latter can be realized using the giant oscillator-strength transitions of a weakly confined exciton in a quantum well when its coherent motion extends over many unit cells. Here we demonstrate single-photon superradiance in perovskite quantum dots with a sub-100 picosecond radiative decay time, almost as short as the reported exciton coherence time. The characteristic dependence of radiative rates on the size, composition and temperature of the quantum dot suggests the formation of giant transition dipoles, as confirmed by effective-mass calculations. The results aid in the development of ultrabright, coherent quantum light sources and attest that quantum effects, for example, single-photon emission, persist in nanoparticles ten times larger than the exciton Bohr radius.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2023

Unique signatures of the Rashba effect in the magneto-optical properties of two-dimensional semiconductors

Herein, the authors theoretically demonstrate two simple magneto-optical measurements which can be used to confirm the existence of Rashba terms in two dimensional semiconductors, even in samples of unoptimal quality, where the transition line widths are comparable to or larger than the Landau level splitting. The first is magnetic circular dichroism (MCD), where a giant MCD signal should be observed at the band edge in the presence of Rashba terms. The second is the comparison of the diamagnetic shift measured in absorption with that in photoluminescence which occurs from the dispersion minimum of the Rashba exciton.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Dark and Bright Excitons in Halide Perovskite Nanoplatelets

Semiconductor nanoplatelets (NPLs), with their large exciton binding energy, narrow photoluminescence (PL), and absence of dielectric screening for photons emitted normal to the NPL surface, could be expected to become the fastest luminophores amongst all colloidal nanostructures. However, super-fast emission is suppressed by a dark (optically passive) exciton ground state, substantially split from a higher-lying bright (optically active) state. Here, the exciton fine structure in 2-8 monolayer (ML) thick Cs n - 1 Pb n Br 3n + 1 NPLs is revealed by merging temperature-resolved PL spectra and time-resolved PL decay with an effective mass model taking quantum confinement and dielectric confinement anisotropy into account. This approach exposes a thickness-dependent bright-dark exciton splitting reaching 32.3 meV for the 2 ML NPLs. The model also reveals a 5-16 meV splitting of the bright exciton states with transition dipoles polarized parallel and perpendicular to the NPL surfaces, the order of which is reversed for the thinnest NPLs, as confirmed by TR-PL measurements. Accordingly, the individual bright states must be taken into account, while the dark exciton state strongly affects the optical properties of the thinnest NPLs even at room temperature. Significantly, the derived model can be generalized for any isotropically or anisotropically confined nanostructure.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Rashba exciton in a 2D perovskite quantum dot

The Rashba effect has been proposed to give rise to a bright exciton ground state in halide perovskite nanocrystals (NCs), resulting in very fast radiative recombination at room temperature and extremely fast radiative recombination at low temperature. In this paper we find the dispersion of the “Rashba exciton”, i.e., the exciton whose bulk dispersion reflects large spin–orbit Rashba terms in the conduction and valence bands and thus has minima at non-zero quasi-momenta. Placing Rashba excitonsin quasi-2D cylindrical quantum dots, we calculate size-dependent levels of confined excitons and their oscillator transition strengths. Here, we consider the implications of this model for two-dimensional hybrid organic–inorganic perovskites, discuss generalizations of this model to 3D NCs, and establish criteria under which a bright ground exciton state could be realized.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Effect of Anisotropic Confinement on Electronic Structure and Dynamics of Band Edge Excitons in Inorganic Perovskite Nanowires

Inorganic lead halide perovskite nanostructures show promise as the active layers in photovoltaics, light emitting diodes, and other optoelectronic devices. They are robust in the presence of oxygen and water, and the electronic structure and dynamics of these nanostructures can be tuned through quantum confinement. Here we create aligned bundles of CsPbBr3 nanowires with widths resulting in quantum confinement of the electronic wave functions and subject them to ultrafast microscopy. We directly image rapid one-dimensional exciton diffusion along the nanowires, and we measure an exciton trap density of roughly one per nanowire. Using transient absorption microscopy, we observe a polarization-dependent splitting of the band edge exciton line, and from the polarized fluorescence of nanowires in solution, we determine that the exciton transition dipole moments are anisotropic in strength. Furthermore, our observations are consistent with a model in which splitting is driven by shape anisotropy in conjunction with long-range exchange.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2019

Quasicubic model for metal halide perovskite nanocrystals

In this work, we present an analysis of quantum confinement of carriers and excitons, and exciton fine structure, in metal halide perovskite (MHP) nanocrystals (NCs). Starting with coupled-band k · P theory, we derive a nonparabolic effective mass model for the exciton energies in MHP NCs valid for the full size range from the strong to the weak confinement limits. We illustrate the application of the model to CsPbBr 3 NCs and compare the theory against published absorption data, finding excellent agreement. We then apply the theory of electron-hole exchange, including both short- and long-range exchange interactions, to develop a model for the exciton fine structure. We develop an analytical quasicubic model for the effect of tetragonal and orthorhombic lattice distortions on the exchange-related exciton fine structure in CsPbBr 3 , as well as some hybrid organic MHPs of recent interest, including formamidinium lead bromide (FAPbBr 3 ) and methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3). Testing the predictions of the quasicubic model using hybrid density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we find qualitative agreement in tetragonal MHPs but significant disagreement in the orthorhombic modifications. Moreover, the quasicubic model fails to correctly describe the exciton oscillator strength and with it the long-range exchange corrections in these systems. Introducing the effect of NC shape anisotropy and possible Rashba terms into the model, we illustrate the calculation of the exciton fine structure in CsPbBr 3 NCs based on the results of the DFT calculations and examine the effect of Rashba terms and shape anisotropy on the calculated fine structure.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗