Description
Book SynopsisNanotechnology is one of the growing areas of this century, also opening new horizons for tuning optical properties. This book introduces basic tuning schemes, including those on a single quantum object level, with an emphasis on surface and interface manipulation of semiconducting and metallic quantum dots. There are two opposing demands in current forefront applications of quantum dots as optical labels, namely high luminescence stability (suppression of luminescence intermittency) and controllable intermittency and bleaching on a single-particle level to facilitate super-resolution optical microscopy (for which Eric Betzig, Stefan W. Hell, and William E. Moerner were awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry). The book discusses these contradictory demands with respect to both an understanding of the basic processes and applications. The chapters are a combination of scholarly presentation and comprehensive review and include case studies from the authors’ research, including unpublished results. Special emphasis is on a detailed understanding of spectroscopic and dynamic properties of semiconducting quantum dots. The book is suitable for senior undergraduates and researchers in the fields of optical nanoscience, materials science, and nanotechnology.
Trade ReviewThis book considers colloidal semiconductor quantum dots in detail while also addressing metallic quantum dots. With a view to achieving tunability, specific attention is given to interfaces and surfaces. The book has a wide dynamic range, including introductions to the basic properties of quantum dots as well as leading-edge experimental research results. The book is well illustrated and contains many references to the literature. One specific feature of the book is a new model for intermittency in photoluminescence (that is, blinking). The advances made in this respect offer new applications of blinking in sensing and super-resolution microscopy.
−K. Alan Shore, Bangor University, U.K.
Table of ContentsIntroduction to excitons in colloidal quantum dots and metal aggregates: Quantum size effects, spectra, and dynamics. Temperature dependence of exciton–phonon coupling. Principles of single quantum dot detection: Influence of surfaces and interfaces on excitons. Luminescence intermittency (blinking) and spectral diffusion. Relation between ensemble and single quantum dot properties. Surface-related quantum dot–dye nanoassembly formation. Foerster resonance energy transfer (FRET). Photoluminescence quenching and bleaching. Nanolithography and assembly of luminescent nanostructures. Applications of quantum dots.
