Calibrating and Controlling the Quantum Efficiency Distribution of Inhomogeneously Broadened Quantum Rods by Using a Mirror Ball

Per Lunnemann Hansen, Freddy T. Rabouw, Relinde J. A. van Dijk-Moes, Francesca Pietra, Daniël Vanmaekelbergh, A. Femius Koenderink

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

    Abstract

    We demonstrate that a simple silver coated ball lens can be used to accurately measure the entire distribution of radiative transition rates of quantum dot nanocrystals. This simple and cost-effective implementation of Drexhage’s method that uses nanometer-controlled optical mode density variations near a mirror, not only allows an extraction of calibrated ensemble-averaged rates, but for the first time also to quantify the full inhomogeneous dispersion of radiative and non radiative decay rates across thousands of nanocrystals. We apply the technique to novel ultrastable CdSe/CdS dot-in-rod emitters. The emitters are of large current interest due to their improved stability and reduced blinking. We retrieve a room-temperature ensemble average quantum efficiency of 0.87 ± 0.08 at a mean lifetime around 20 ns. We confirm a log-normal distribution of decay rates as often assumed in literature, and we show that the rate distribution-width, that amounts to about 30% of the mean decay rate, is strongly dependent on the local density of optical states.
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalA C S Nano
    Volume7
    Issue number7
    Pages (from-to)5984–5992
    ISSN1936-0851
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2013

    Keywords

    • Quantum dots
    • Nanorods
    • Quantum rods
    • Quantum efficiency
    • Drexhage
    • Optical density of states
    • Decay-rate distribution

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Calibrating and Controlling the Quantum Efficiency Distribution of Inhomogeneously Broadened Quantum Rods by Using a Mirror Ball'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this