Multi-chromatic silicon nanocrystals

Silicon nanocrystals (SiNCs) have great potential to become environmental friendly alternatives to heavy-metal containing nanocrystals for applications including medical imaging, lighting and displays. SiNCs exhibit excellent photostability, non-toxicity and abundant resources, but their often reported inefficient and spectrally limited light emission seriously impair their applications. Here we demonstrate a new method that converts SiNCs into an efficient and robust multi-chromatic phosphor. Using ~15 keV electron-beam irradiation of oxide-capped SiNCs, we introduce several types of color centers into the nanocrystal's oxide shell with efficient blue, green and red emission bands, together yielding warm-white photoluminescence, even for a single SiNC. Introduced centers are not native to the original system and we relate them to known defects in silica. Unlike in the silica host, however, here the centers are efficiently optically excitable. Provided further optimization and up-scaling of this method, e-beam irradiated SiNCs can be of great interest as white phosphors for applications such as LEDs.

Strong Absorption Enhancement in Si Nanorods

We report two orders of magnitude stronger absorption in silicon nanorods relative to bulk in a wide energy range. The local field enhancement and dipole matrix element contributions were disentangled experimentally by single-dot absorption measurements on differently shaped particles as a function of excitation polarization and photon energy. Both factors substantially contribute to the observed effect as supported by simulations of the light-matter interaction and atomistic calculations of the transition matrix elements. The results indicate strong shape dependence of the quasidirect transitions in silicon nanocrystals, suggesting nanostructure shape engineering as an efficient tool for overcoming limitations of indirect band gap materials in optoelectronic applications, such as solar cells.

Spectroscopy of carrier multiplication in nanocrystals

Carrier multiplication in nanostructures promises great improvements in a number of widely used technologies, among others photodetectors and solar cells. The decade since its discovery was ridden with fierce discussions about its true existence, magnitude, and mechanism. Here, we introduce a novel, purely spectroscopic approach for investigation of carrier multiplication in nanocrystals. Applying this method to silicon nanocrystals in an oxide matrix, we obtain an unambiguous spectral signature of the carrier multiplication process and reveal details of its size-dependent characteristics-energy threshold and efficiency. The proposed method is generally applicable and suitable for both solid state and colloidal samples, as well as for a great variety of different materials.

Homoclinic and Heteroclinic Bifurcations in rf SQUIDs

The Melnikov method is used to discuss the parameter dependence of homoclinic and heteroclinic bifurcations for the rf SQUID system. Also the case of strong damping is treated. Because of the complicated potential the resulting integrals have to be evaluated numerically. For some selected parameter sets the theoretical predictions are compared with numerical solutions of the equation of motion. Very good agreement of both methods is found.

Exciton lifetime measurements on single silicon quantum dots

We measured the exciton lifetime of single silicon quantum dots, fabricated by electron beam lithography, reactive ion etching and oxidation. The observed photoluminescence decays are of mono-exponential character with a large variation (5-45 μs) from dot to dot, even for the same emission energy. We show that this lifetime variation may be the origin of the heavily debated non-exponential (stretched) decays typically observed for ensemble measurements.

Blinking statistics of silicon quantum dots

The blinking statistics of numerous single silicon quantum dots fabricated by electron-beam lithography, plasma etching, and oxidation have been analyzed. Purely exponential on- and off-time distributions were found consistent with the absence of statistical aging. This is in contrast to blinking reports in the literature where power-law distributions prevail as well as observations of statistical aging in nanocrystal ensembles. A linear increase of the switching frequency with excitation power density indicates a domination of single-photon absorption processes, possibly through a direct transfer of charges to trap states without the need for a bimolecular Auger mechanism. Photoluminescence saturation with increasing excitation is not observed; however, there is a threshold in excitation (coinciding with a mean occupation of one exciton per nanocrystal) where a change from linear to square-root increase occurs. Finally, the statistics of blinking of single quantum dots in terms of average on-time, blinking frequency and blinking amplitude reveal large variations (several orders) without any significant correlation demonstrating the individual microscopic character of each quantum dot.

Coexistence of 1D and quasi-0D photoluminescence from single silicon nanowires

Single silicon nanowires (Si-NWs) prepared by electron-beam lithography and reactive-ion etching are investigated by imaging optical spectroscopy under variable temperatures and laser pumping intensities. Spectral images of individual Si-NWs reveal a large variability of photoluminescence (PL) along a single Si-NW. The weaker broad emission band asymmetrically extended to the high-energy side is interpreted to be due to recombination of quasi-free 1D excitons while the brighter localized emission features (with significantly variable peak position, width, and shape) are due to localization of electron-hole pairs in surface protrusions acting like quasi-0D centers or quantum dots (QDs). Correlated PL and scanning electron microscopy images indicate that the efficiently emitting QDs are located at the Si-NW interface with completely oxidized neck of the initial Si wall. Theoretical fitting of the delocalized PL emission band explains its broad asymmetrical band to be due to the Gaussian size distribution of the Si-NW diameter and reveals also the presence of recombination from the Si-NW excited state which can facilitate a fast capture of excitons into QD centers.

Controlled fabrication of individual silicon quantum rods yielding high intensity, polarized light emission

Elongated silicon quantum dots (also referred to as rods) were fabricated using a lithographic process which reliably yields sufficient numbers of emitters. These quantum rods are perfectly aligned and the vast majority are spatially separated well enough to enable single-dot spectroscopy. Not only do they exhibit extraordinarily high linear polarization with respect to both absorption and emission, but the silicon rods also appear to luminesce much more brightly than their spherical counterparts. Significantly increased quantum efficiency and almost unity degree of linear polarization render these quantum rods perfect candidates for numerous applications.

Phase space structure and chaotic scattering in near-integrable systems

We investigate the bifurcation phenomena and the change in phase space structure connected with the transition from regular to chaotic scattering in classical systems with unbounded dynamics. The regular systems discussed in this paper are integrable ones in the sense of Liouville, possessing a degenerated unstable periodic orbit at infinity. By means of a McGehee transformation the degeneracy can be removed and the usual Melnikov method is applied to predict homoclinic crossings of stable and unstable manifolds for the perturbed system. The chosen examples are the perturbed radial Kepler problem and two kinetically coupled Morse oscillators with different potential parameters which model the stretching dynamics in ABC molecules. The calculated subharmonic and homoclinic Melnikov functions can be used to prove the existence of chaotic scattering and of elliptic and hyperbolic periodic orbits, to calculate the width of the main stochastic layer and of the resonances, and to predict the range of initial conditions where singularities in the scattering function are found. In the second example the value of the perturbation parameter at which channel transitions set in is calculated. The theoretical results are supplemented by numerical experiments.

Regional factors affecting proliferation in the large intestine of the rat

Colonic neoplasia is more frequent in the distal colon than in the proximal colon in spontaneous human disease and in carcinogen-induced tumors in rodents. The possibility that this may reflect regional differences in morphology and in proliferative responses to fasting and refeeding was explored in this study in rats. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that the density of colonic crypts was 36% higher in the distal than in the proximal colon, while light microscopy revealed that distal crypts had 70% more colonocytes than proximal crypts. Thus, the number of colonocytes per unit area in the distal colon is approximately twice that in the proximal colon. Proliferation was assessed by the uptake of bromodeoxyuridine in vivo and showed that regions of the distal colon had greater suppression of proliferation during fasting than the cecum, and greater enhancement of proliferation during refeeding than that observed in the cecum or the proximal colon. Changes in proliferation associated with fasting and refeeding were accompanied by changes in the concentrations of short chain fatty acids, but the data did not support the hypothesis of a direct relationship between increasing concentrations of short chain fatty acids and enhanced proliferation. Regional differences in morphology and proliferation could be relevant to the greater susceptibility of the distal colon to neoplasia.