Resonance Raman overtone intensities and electron-phonon coupling strengths in semiconductor nanocrystals

For linear electron-phonon coupling, the Huang-Rhys factor, S, gives the intensity ratio of the one-quantum vibronic transition (0 → 1) to the purely electronic origin transition (0 → 0) in a vibrationally resolved, zero-temperature absorption or emission spectrum. It is often assumed that the overtone to fundamental integrated intensity ratio in resonance Raman scattering of semiconductor nanocrystals is equal to or proportional to S, or that S may be determined from the overtone intensity in some other straightforward manner. In fact, this is not generally possible because of different excitation profiles for overtones and fundamentals, differential sensitivity of overtones and fundamentals to electronic dephasing, and interference effects from partially overlapping electronic transitions. Here we examine the relationship between the Huang-Rhys factor and the overtone to fundamental intensity ratio through spectroscopic simulations using parameters appropriate to II-VI semiconductor nanocrystals such as CdSe. A simple equation relating the overtone to fundamental Raman intensity ratio to the Huang-Rhys factor is obtained only in the case of a single resonant electronic state, excitation at the maximum of the inhomogeneously broadened absorption band, and a homogeneous line width small compared with the phonon frequency.