DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.incnc.2021.045
Publication date: 8th June 2021
Broadening of multi-exciton emission from colloidal quantum dots (QDs) at room temperature is important for their use in high-power applications but in-depth characterization has not been possible until now. We present and apply a novel spectroscopy method to quantify the biexciton linewidth and biexciton binding energy of single CdSe/CdS/ZnS colloidal QDs at room temperature. In our method, which we term “cascade spectroscopy”, we select emission events from the biexciton cascade and reconstruct their spectrum. The biexciton has an average emission linewidth of 83 meV on the single-QD scale, similar to the exciton. Variations in the biexciton repulsion (4.5 ± 3.1 meV; mean biexciton binding energy ± standard deviation of 15 QDs) are correlated with but more narrowly distributed than variations in the exciton energy (10.5 meV standard deviation). Using a simple quantum-mechanical model we conclude that inhomogeneous broadening in our sample is primarily due to variations in the CdS shell thickness.