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Published on: April 16, 2017
Room-temperature exciton storage in elongated semiconductor nanocrystals
R M Kraus1, P G Lagoudakis, A L Rogach
1Photonics and Optoelectronics Group, Physics Department and CeNS, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Amalienstrasse 54, 80799 München, Germany.
Abstract:
The excited state of colloidal nanoheterostructures consisting of a spherical CdSe nanocrystal with an epitaxially attached CdS rod can be perturbed effectively by electric fields. Field-induced fluorescence quenching coincides with a conversion of the excited state species from the bright exciton to a metastable trapped state (dark exciton) characterized by a power-law luminescence decay. The conversion is reversible so that up to 10% of quenched excitons recombine radiatively post turn-off of a 1 micro s field pulse, increasing the delayed luminescence by a factor of 80. Excitons can be stored for up to 10(5) times the natural lifetime, opening up applications in optical memory elements.

