Monitoring Gold Nanoparticle Growth in Situ via the Acoustic Vibrations Probed by Four-Wave Mixing

Coupling Perovskite Quantum Dot Pairs in Solution using a Nanoplasmonic Assembly

Perovskite quantum dots (PQDs) provide a robust solution-based approach to efficient solar cells, bright light emitting devices, and quantum sources of light. Quantifying heterogeneity and understanding coupling between dots is critical for these applications. We use double-nanohole optical trapping to size individual dots and correlate to emission energy shifts from quantum confinement. We were able to assemble a second dot in the trap, which allows us to observe the coupling between dots. We observe a systematic red-shift of 1.1 ± 0.6 meV in the emission wavelength. Theoretical analysis shows that the observed shift is consistent with resonant energy transfer and is unusually large due to moderate-to-large quantum confinement in PQDs. This demonstrates the promise of PQDs for entanglement in quantum information applications. This work enables future in situ control of PQD growth as well as studies of the coupling between small PQD assemblies with quantum information applications in mind.

Dewetting during Terahertz Vibrations of Nanoparticles

We use molecular simulations to demonstrate the formation of a vacuum layer around a vibrating nanoparticle in a liquid. This vacuum layer forms readily for high frequencies with respect to the characteristic vibrational (Einstein) frequency of the fluid, even with small amplitude vibrations. The opposite is true for low frequencies, where large amplitudes are required to demonstrate the vacuum layer. With the vacuum layer forming, the quality factor of the oscillations increases substantially. The findings provide an interpretation of our recent experiments that show the onset of high-quality resonances of nanoparticles in water ( Xiang et al. Nano Lett. 2016 , 16 , 3638 ) in the gigahertz to terahertz range.