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Updated: Apr 25, 2026

Observation and Analysis of Blinking Surface-enhanced Raman Scattering
Published on: January 11, 2018
Blinking in quantum dots: The origin of the grey state and power law statistics
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA.
Abstract:
Quantum dot (QD) blinking is characterized by switching between an "on" state and an "off" state, and a power-law distribution of on and off times with exponents from 1.0 to 2.0. The origin of blinking behavior in QDs, however, has remained a mystery. Here we describe an energy-band model for QDs that captures the full range of blinking behavior reported in the literature and provides new insight into features such as the gray state, the power-law distribution of on and off times, and the power-law exponents.
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