OPA-driven hollow-core fiber as a tunable, broadband source for coherent multidimensional spectroscopy

Two-Dimensional Electronic Spectroscopy Reveals Dynamics within the Bright Fine Structure of CdSe Quantum Dots

Semiconductor quantum dots are characterized by a discrete excitonic structure featuring coarse as well as fine structure. The lowest fine structure states have splittings into bright-dark states which are now well confirmed by single dot spectroscopy. In contrast, the splitting of the lowest coarse exciton into bright-bright fine structure states has not been observed nor the dynamics between these states. Here, we use the unique combination of time and energy resolution of two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy to directly observe the fine structure splittings into a bright-bright doublet. These splittings are strongly size dependent, with population relaxation on the <100 fs time scale.

Exciton-polaron interactions in metal halide perovskite nanocrystals revealed via two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy

Metal halide perovskite nanocrystals have been under intense investigation for their promise in optoelectronic devices due to their remarkable physics, such as liquid/solid duality. This liquid/solid duality may give rise to their defect tolerance and other such useful properties. This duality means that the electronic states are fluctuating in time, on a distribution of timescales from femtoseconds to picoseconds. Hence, these lattice induced energy fluctuations that are connected to polaron formation are also connected to exciton formation and dynamics. We observe these correlations and dynamics in metal halide perovskite nanocrystals of CsPbI3 and CsPbBr3 using two-dimensional electronic (2DE) spectroscopy, with its unique ability to resolve dynamics in heterogeneously broadened systems. The 2DE spectra immediately reveal a previously unobserved excitonic splitting in these 15 nm NCs that may have a coarse excitonic structure. 2D lineshape dynamics reveal a glassy response on the 300 fs timescale due to polaron formation. The lighter Br system shows larger amplitude and faster timescale fluctuations that give rise to dynamic line broadening. The 2DE signals enable 1D transient absorption analysis of exciton cooling dynamics. Exciton cooling within this doublet is shown to take place on a slower timescale than within the excitonic continuum. The energy dissipation rates are the same for the I and Br systems for incoherent exciton cooling but are very different for the coherent dynamics that give rise to line broadening. Exciton cooling is shown to take place on the same timescale as polaron formation, revealing both as coupled many-body excitation.