Phonon Interaction and Phase Transition in Single Formamidinium Lead Bromide Quantum Dots

Unraveling the excitonics of light emission from metal-halide perovskite quantum dots

Metal halide semicondictor perovskites have been under intense investigation for their promise in light absorptive applications like photovoltaics. They have more recently experienced interest for their promise in light emissive applications. A key aspect of perovskites is their glassy, ionic lattice that exhibits dynamical disorder. One possible result of this dynamical disorder is their strong coupling between electronic and lattice degrees of freedom which may confer remarkable properties for light emission such as defect tolerance. How does the system, comprised of excitons, couple to the bath, comprised of lattice modes? How does this system-bath interaction give rise to novel light emissive properties and how do these properties give insight into the nature of these materials? We review recent work from this group in which time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy is used to reveal such insights. Based upon a fast time resolution of 3 ps, energy resolution, and temperature dependence, a wide variety of insights are gleaned. These insights include: lattice contributions to the emission linewidths, multiexciton formation, hot carrier cooling, excitonic fine structure, single dot superradiance, and a breakdown of the Condon approximation, all due to complex structural dynamics in these materials.

Circularly Polarized Luminescence Without External Magnetic Fields from Individual CsPbBr3 Perovskite Quantum Dots

Lead halide perovskite quantum dots (QDs), the latest generation of the colloidal QD family, exhibit outstanding optical properties, which are now exploited as both classical and quantum light sources. Most of their rather exceptional properties are related to the peculiar exciton fine-structure of band-edge states, which can support unique bright triplet excitons. The degeneracy of the bright triplet excitons is lifted with energetic splitting in the order of millielectronvolts, which can be resolved by the photoluminescence (PL) measurements of single QDs at cryogenic temperatures. Each bright exciton fine-structure-state (FSS) exhibits a dominantly linear polarization, in line with several theoretical models based on the sole crystal field, exchange interaction, and shape anisotropy. Here, we show that in addition to a high degree of linear polarization, the individual exciton FSS can exhibit a non-negligible degree of circular polarization even without external magnetic fields by investigating the four Stokes parameters of the exciton fine-structure in individual CsPbBr3 QDs through Stokes polarimetric measurements. We observe a degree of circular polarization up to ∼38%, which could not be detected by using the conventional polarimetric technique. In addition, we found a consistent transition from left- to right-hand circular polarization within the fine-structure triplet manifold, which was observed in magnetic-field-dependent experiments. Our optical investigation provides deeper insights into the nature of the exciton fine structures and thereby drives the yet-incomplete understanding of the unique photophysical properties of this class of QDs for the benefit of future applications in chiral quantum optics.

Colloidal Aziridinium Lead Bromide Quantum Dots

The compositional engineering of lead-halide perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) via the A-site cation represents a lever to fine-tune their structural and electronic properties. However, the presently available chemical space remains minimal since, thus far, only three A-site cations have been reported to favor the formation of stable lead-halide perovskite NCs, i.e., Cs+, formamidinium (FA), and methylammonium (MA). Inspired by recent reports on bulk single crystals with aziridinium (AZ) as the A-site cation, we present a facile colloidal synthesis of AZPbBr3 NCs with a narrow size distribution and size tunability down to 4 nm, producing quantum dots (QDs) in the regime of strong quantum confinement. NMR and Raman spectroscopies confirm the stabilization of the AZ cations in the locally distorted cubic structure. AZPbBr3 QDs exhibit bright photoluminescence with quantum efficiencies of up to 80%. Stabilized with cationic and zwitterionic capping ligands, single AZPbBr3 QDs exhibit stable single-photon emission, which is another essential attribute of QDs. In particular, didodecyldimethylammonium bromide and 2-octyldodecyl-phosphoethanolamine ligands afford AZPbBr3 QDs with high spectral stability at both room and cryogenic temperatures, reduced blinking with a characteristic ON fraction larger than 85%, and high single-photon purity (g(2)(0) = 0.1), all comparable to the best-reported values for MAPbBr3 and FAPbBr3 QDs of the same size.

Coupling to octahedral tilts in halide perovskite nanocrystals induces phonon-mediated attractive interactions between excitons

Understanding the origin of electron-phonon coupling in lead halide perovskites is key to interpreting and leveraging their optical and electronic properties. Here we show that photoexcitation drives a reduction of the lead-halide-lead bond angles, a result of deformation potential coupling to low-energy optical phonons. We accomplish this by performing femtosecond-resolved, optical-pump-electron-diffraction-probe measurements to quantify the lattice reorganization occurring as a result of photoexcitation in nanocrystals of FAPbBr3. Our results indicate a stronger coupling in FAPbBr3 than CsPbBr3. We attribute the enhanced coupling in FAPbBr3 to its disordered crystal structure, which persists down to cryogenic temperatures. We find the reorganizations induced by each exciton in a multi-excitonic state constructively interfere, giving rise to a coupling strength that scales quadratically with the exciton number. This superlinear scaling induces phonon-mediated attractive interactions between excitations in lead halide perovskites.

Exciton Fine Structure of CsPbCl3 Nanocrystals: An Interplay of Electron-Hole Exchange Interaction, Crystal Structure, Shape Anisotropy, and Dielectric Mismatch

In the semiconducting perovskite materials family, the cesium-lead-chloride compound (CsPbCl₃) supports robust excitons characterized by a blue-shifted transition and the largest binding energy, thus presenting a high potential to achieve demanding solid-state room-temperature photonic or quantum devices. Here we study the fundamental emission properties of cubic-shaped colloidal CsPbCl₃ nanocrystals (NCs), examining in particular individual NC responses using micro-photoluminescence in order to unveil the exciton fine structure (EFS) features. Within this work, NCs with average dimensions ⟨L_α⟩ ≈ 8 nm (α = x, y, z) are studied with a level of dispersity in their dimensions that allows disentangling the effects of size and shape anisotropy in the analysis. We find that most of the NCs exhibit an optical response under the form of a doublet with crossed polarized peaks and an average inter-bright-state splitting, Δ_BB ≈ 1.53 meV, but triplets are also observed though being a minority. The origin of the EFS patterns is discussed in the frame of the electron-hole exchange model by taking into account the dielectric mismatch at the NC interface. The different features (large dispersity in the Δ_BB values and occasional occurrence of triplets) are reconciled by incorporating a moderate degree of shape anisotropy, observed in the structural characterization, by preserving the relatively high degree of the NC lattice symmetry. The energy distance between the optically inactive state and the bright manifold, Δ_BD, is also extracted from time-resolved photoluminescence measurements (Δ_BD ≈ 10.7 meV), in good agreement with our theoretical predictions.

Spectral Fingerprint of Quantum Confinement in Single CsPbBr3 Nanocrystals

Lead halide perovskite nanocrystals are promising materials for classical and quantum light emission. To understand these outstanding properties, a thorough analysis of the band-edge exciton emission is needed, which is not reachable in ensemble and room-temperature studies because of broadening effects. Here, we report on a cryogenic-temperature study of the photoluminescence of single CsPbBr₃ nanocrystals in the intermediate quantum confinement regime. We reveal the size-dependence of the spectral features observed: the bright triplet exciton energy splittings, the trion and biexciton binding energies, and the optical phonon replica spectrum. In addition, we show that bright triplet energy splittings are consistent with a pure exchange model and that the variety of polarization properties and spectra recorded can be rationalized simply by considering the orientation of the emitting dipoles and the populations of the emitting states.

Quantum dots assembled from an aziridinium based hybrid perovskite displaying tunable luminescence

3D hybrid perovskites based upon small organic cations gave start to a new intensively growing class of semiconducting materials. Here we report on the elaboration of quantum dots of a recently emerged new perovskite (AzrH)PbBr₃ (AzrH = aziridinium cation). By employing the antisolvent precipitation technique and stabilization with a cationic surfactant we succeeded in obtaining quantum dots that display tunable luminescence. This piece of work shows the perspective of aziridinium-based materials for the elaboration of advanced photonic nanostructures.

Effect of chirality on the optical properties of layered hybrid perovskite R- and S-α-methylbenzylammonium lead iodide

The introduction of chirality in layered hybrid perovskites breaks the symmetry of their inorganic sub-lattices. Consequently, they show intriguing linear and non-linear optical properties. Here we explore the effect of chirality on the excitonic photoluminescence of chiral (R- and S-α-MBA)₂PbI₄ (MBA: methylbenzylammonium) at cryogenic temperatures. The induced chirality splits the excitonic emissions below 150 K. Additionally, (R- and S-α-MBA)₂PbI₄ show wavelength-tunable second harmonic generation (SHG) that depends strongly on the polarization angle of the incident light.

Room-Temperature, Highly Pure Single-Photon Sources from All-Inorganic Lead Halide Perovskite Quantum Dots

Attaining pure single-photon emission is key for many quantum technologies, from optical quantum computing to quantum key distribution and quantum imaging. The past 20 years have seen the development of several solid-state quantum emitters, but most of them require highly sophisticated techniques (e.g., ultrahigh vacuum growth methods and cryostats for low-temperature operation). The system complexity may be significantly reduced by employing quantum emitters capable of working at room temperature. Here, we present a systematic study across ∼170 photostable single CsPbX3 (X: Br and I) colloidal quantum dots (QDs) of different sizes and compositions, unveiling that increasing quantum confinement is an effective strategy for maximizing single-photon purity due to the suppressed biexciton quantum yield. Leveraging the latter, we achieve 98% single-photon purity (g(2)(0) as low as 2%) from a cavity-free, nonresonantly excited single 6.6 nm CsPbI3 QDs, showcasing the great potential of CsPbX3 QDs as room-temperature highly pure single-photon sources for quantum technologies.

Optical Probing of Crystal Lattice Configurations in Single CsPbBr3 Nanoplatelets

Quantum-confined nanostructures of CsPbBr₃ with luminescence quantum efficiencies approaching unity have shown tremendous potential for lighting and quantum light applications. In contrast to CsPbBr₃ quantum dots, where the fine structure of the emissive exciton state has been intensely discussed, the relationship among lattice orientation, shape anisotropy, and exciton fine structure in lead halide nanoplatelets has not yet been established. In this work, we investigate the fine structure of the bright triplet exciton of individual CsPbBr₃ nanoplatelets by polarization-resolved micro- and magnetophotoluminescence spectroscopy at liquid helium temperature and find a large zero-field splitting of up to 2.5 meV. A unique relation between the crystal structure and the photoluminescence emission confirms the existence of two distinct crystal configurations in such nanoplatelets with different alignments of the crystal axes with respect to the nanoplatelet facets. Polarization-resolved experiments eventually allow us to determine the absolute orientation of an individual nanoplatelet on the substrate purely by optical means.

Luminescence Fine Structures in Single Lead Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals: Size Dependence of the Exciton-Phonon Coupling

Lead halide perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) have superior photoluminescence (PL) properties, such as high PL quantum yields and wide PL wavelength tunability, for optoelectronic applications. Here, we report the PL spectra of single formamidinium lead halide perovskite FAPbX₃ (X = Br, I) NCs examined by single-dot spectroscopy at low temperature. We found four PL peaks in the low-energy region below the strong exciton PL peak that originate from two longitudinal-optical (LO) phonon replicas of the exciton PL, biexcitons, and charged excitons (trions). The binding energies of the biexcitons and trions become larger as the NCs decrease in size. The LO phonon energies show no size dependence, but the Huang-Rhys factors, which reflect the strength of the exciton-phonon coupling, become larger for smaller NCs. Our findings provide important insights into the exciton properties of perovskite NCs.

Temperature-Independent Dielectric Constant in CsPbBr3 Nanocrystals Revealed by Linear Absorption Spectroscopy

Fundamental photophysical behavior in CsPbBr₃ nanocrystals (NCs), especially at low temperatures, is under active investigation. While many studies have reported temperature-dependent photoluminescence, comparatively few have focused on understanding the temperature-dependent absorption spectrum. Here, we report the temperature-dependent (35-300 K) absorption and photoluminescence spectra of zwitterionic ligand-capped CsPbBr₃ NCs with four different edge lengths (d = 4.9, 7.2, 8.1, and 13.2 nm). The two lowest-energy excitonic transitions are quantitatively modeled over the full temperature range within the effective mass approximation considering the quasi-cubic NC shape and nonparabolicity of the electronic bands. Significantly, we find that the effective dielectric constant determined from the best fit model parameters is independent of temperature. Moreover, we observe a temperature-dependent Stokes shift that saturates at a finite value of Δ ≈ 10 meV at low temperatures for d = 7.2 nm NCs, which is absent in bulk CsPbBr₃ films. Overall, these observations highlight differences between the temperature-dependent dielectric behavior of NC and bulk perovskites and point to the need for a more unified theoretical understanding of absorption and emission in halide perovskites.

State of the Art and Prospects for Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals

Metal-halide perovskites have rapidly emerged as one of the most promising materials of the 21st century, with many exciting properties and great potential for a broad range of applications, from photovoltaics to optoelectronics and photocatalysis. The ease with which metal-halide perovskites can be synthesized in the form of brightly luminescent colloidal nanocrystals, as well as their tunable and intriguing optical and electronic properties, has attracted researchers from different disciplines of science and technology. In the last few years, there has been a significant progress in the shape-controlled synthesis of perovskite nanocrystals and understanding of their properties and applications. In this comprehensive review, researchers having expertise in different fields (chemistry, physics, and device engineering) of metal-halide perovskite nanocrystals have joined together to provide a state of the art overview and future prospects of metal-halide perovskite nanocrystal research.

Revealing the Exciton Fine Structure in Lead Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals

Lead-halide perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) are attractive nano-building blocks for photovoltaics and optoelectronic devices as well as quantum light sources. Such developments require a better knowledge of the fundamental electronic and optical properties of the band-edge exciton, whose fine structure has long been debated. In this review, we give an overview of recent magneto-optical spectroscopic studies revealing the entire excitonic fine structure and relaxation mechanisms in these materials, using a single-NC approach to get rid of their inhomogeneities in morphology and crystal structure. We highlight the prominent role of the electron-hole exchange interaction in the order and splitting of the bright triplet and dark singlet exciton sublevels and discuss the effects of size, shape anisotropy and dielectric screening on the fine structure. The spectral and temporal manifestations of thermal mixing between bright and dark excitons allows extracting the specific nature and strength of the exciton–phonon coupling, which provides an explanation for their remarkably bright photoluminescence at low temperature although the ground exciton state is optically inactive. We also decipher the spectroscopic characteristics of other charge complexes whose recombination contributes to photoluminescence. With the rich knowledge gained from these experiments, we provide some perspectives on perovskite NCs as quantum light sources.

Exciton-acoustic phonon coupling revealed by resonant excitation of single perovskite nanocrystals

Single perovskite nanocrystals have attracted great research attention very recently due to their potential quantum-information applications, which critically depend on the development of powerful optical techniques to resolve delicate exciton photophysics. Here we have realized resonant and near-resonant excitations of single perovskite CsPbI₃ nanocrystals, with the scattered laser light contributing to only ~10% of the total collected signals. This allows us to estimate an ultranarrow photoluminescence excitation linewidth of ~11.32 µeV for the emission state of a single CsPbI₃ nanocrystal, corresponding to an exciton dephasing time of ~116.29 ps. Meanwhile, size-quantized acoustic phonons can be resolved from a single CsPbI₃ nanocrystal, whose coupling with the exciton is proposed to arise from the piezoelectric potential. The ability to collect resonance fluorescence from single CsPbI₃ nanocrystals, with the subsequent revelation of exciton-acoustic phonon coupling, has marked a critical step towards their steady advancement into superior quantum-light sources.

In order to develop perovskite nanocrystals as a single-photon source, there is a need to understand the complex exciton photo-physics. Here, the authors employ resonant and near-resonant excitation technique to study single CsPbI₃ nanocrystal that allows them to probe the continuous and size-quantised acoustic-phonon modes.

Disentangling Electron-Phonon Coupling and Thermal Expansion Effects in the Band Gap Renormalization of Perovskite Nanocrystals

The complex electron-phonon interaction occurring in bulk lead halide perovskites gives rise to anomalous temperature dependences, like the widening of the electronic band gap as temperature increases. However, possible confinement effects on the electron-phonon coupling in the nanocrystalline version of these materials remain unexplored. Herein, we study the temperature (ranging from 80 K to ambient) and hydrostatic pressure (from atmospheric to 0.6 GPa) dependence of the photoluminescence of ligand-free methylammonium lead triiodide nanocrystals with controlled sizes embedded in a porous silica matrix. This analysis allowed us to disentangle the effects of thermal expansion and electron-phonon interaction. As the crystallite size decreases, the electron-phonon contribution to the gap renormalization gains in importance. We provide a plausible explanation for this observation in terms of quantum confinement effects, showing that neither thermal expansion nor electron-phonon coupling effects may be disregarded when analyzing the temperature dependence of the optoelectronic properties of perovskite lead halide nanocrystals.

The thermal stability of FAPbBr3 nanocrystals from temperature-dependent photoluminescence and first-principles calculations

The temperature dependence of FAPbBr3 perovskite nanocrystals (PNCs) is investigated experimentally by steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopies. With the temperature increase, photon energies of line width and emission peak become larger due to stronger exciton-phonon coupling. Furthermore, theoretical calculations of first-principles simulations are used to estimate comparatively the thermal stability of typical FAPbBr3 PNCs. It is found that the PL peaks of PNCs slightly change with increasing temperature below 175 K and then blueshift steeply decreases rapidly till 400 K, which is related to phase transition from orthorhombic to tetragonal and cubic phase. The simulated results show the PL and the crystal structure of FAPbBr3 are largely dependent on the temperature. With higher temperature, the photon energy of the PL peak becomes larger, and the calculated band gap of FAPbBr3 is about 2.15 eV at 80 K, which is in good agreement with the experimental results. It is confirmed that temperature-dependent PL is composed of a band-edge exciton state and trapping state emission. The results obtained will be of certain significance to further expand other hybrid organometal perovskite materials.

Phonon, thermal, and thermo-optical properties of halide perovskites

Metal halide perovskites are semiconductors with many fascinating characteristics and their widespread use in optoelectronic devices has been expected. High-quality thin films and single crystals can be fabricated by simple chemical solution processes and their fundamental electrical, optical, and thermal properties can be changed significantly by compositional substitution, in particular halogen ions. In this perspective, we provide an overview of phonon and thermal properties of metal halide perovskites, which play a decisive role in determining device performance. After a brief introduction to fundamental material properties, longitudinal-optical phonons and unusual thermal properties of metal halide perovskites are discussed. Remarkably, they possess very low thermal conductivities and very large thermal expansion coefficients despite their crystalline nature. In line with these discussions, we present optical properties governed by the strong electron-phonon interactions and the unusual thermal properties. By showing their unique thermo-optic responses and novel application examples, we highlight some aspects of the unusual thermal properties.

Effect of A-Site Cation on Photoluminescence Spectra of Single Lead Bromide Perovskite Nanocrystals

Lead halide perovskite (APbX₃) nanocrystals exhibit photoluminescence (PL) with both wide wavelength tunability and high quantum efficiency. While the Pb-X₆ octahedra mainly determines the near-band-edge optical properties and the A-site cation affects the structural stability, the role of the A-site cation in determining the optical properties is still unclear. Here, we report the PL properties of three types of lead bromide perovskite APbBr₃ nanocrystals with different cations [A = HC(NH₂)₂⁺, CH₃NH₃⁺, and Cs⁺], as revealed by single-dot spectroscopy, and discuss the influence of the A-site cation on the PL spectrum. The nanocrystal size dependences of the PL energy and lifetime show no large variation with the species of the A-site cation. We find that the size of the A-site cation determines the coupling strength between electrons and longitudinal-optical phonons in the nanocrystal and thus affects the PL spectral shape, especially the low-energy tail.

Stable green and red dual-color emission in all-inorganic halide-mixed perovskite single microsheets

Recently, all-inorganic perovskites have attracted tremendous attention due to their excellent optoelectronic properties and extensive potential applications. However, these perovskites usually show a single emission wavelength because of the high ionic migration. Herein, we synthesized all-inorganic halide-mixed perovskite CsPbBr x I3-x microsheets with high crystal quality using the anti-solvent solution method and observed extraordinary green and red dual-color emission in single CsPbBr x I3-x microsheets. Power dependent PL spectra reveal excitonic and defect related recombination features of CsPbBr3 and CsPbI3 for the green and red emission. Temperature dependent PL spectra indicated a distinctive exciton-phonon coupling strength in CsPbBr x I3-x microsheets compared with pure CsPbBr3 and CsPbI3. The PL dynamics showing longer emission lifetime further confirmed this conclusion. Our work not only provides a novel strategy to produce stable dual-color emission integration, but also promotes the fundamental insight into the emission dynamics and exciton/free carrier related photophysics in all-inorganic halide-mixed perovskites.

Multiband Model for Tetragonal Crystals: Application to Hybrid Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals

We investigate the theoretical band structure of organic-inorganic perovskites APbX₃ with tetragonal crystal structure. Using D_4h point group symmetry properties, we derive a general 16-band Hamiltonian describing the electronic band diagram in the vicinity of the wave-vector point corresponding to the direct band gap. For bulk crystals, a very good agreement between our predictions and experimental physical parameters, as band gap energies and effective carrier masses, is obtained. Extending this description to three-dimensional confined hybrid halide perovskite, we calculate the size dependence of the excitonic radiative lifetime and fine structure. We describe the exciton fine structure of cube-shaped nanocrystals by an interplay of crystal-field and electron-hole exchange interaction (short- and long-range parts) enhanced by confinement. Using very recent experimental results on FAPbBr₃ nanocrystals, we extract the bulk short-range exchange interaction in this material and predict its value in other hybrid compounds. Finally, we also predict the bright-bright and bright-dark splittings as a function of nanocrystal size.

Properties of Excitons and Photogenerated Charge Carriers in Metal Halide Perovskites

Metal halide perovskites (MHPs) have recently attracted great attention from the scientific community due to their excellent photovoltaic performance as well as their tremendous potential for other optoelectronic applications such as light-emitting diodes, lasers, and photodetectors. Despite the rapid progress in device applications, a solid understanding of the photophysical properties behind the device performance is highly desirable for MHPs. Here, the properties of excitons and photogenerated charge carriers in MHPs are explored. The unique dielectric constant properties, crystal-liquid duality, and fundamental optical processes of MHPs are first discussed. The properties of excitons and related phenomena in MHPs are then detailed, including the exciton binding energy determined by various methods and their influence factors, exciton dynamics, exciton-photon coupling and related applications, and exciton-phonon coupling in MHPs. The properties of photogenerated free charge carriers in MHPs such as the carrier diffusion length, mobility, and recombination are described. Recent progress in various applications is also demonstrated. Finally, a conclusion and perspectives of future studies for MHPs are presented.

Microcarrier-Assisted Inorganic Shelling of Lead Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals

The conventional strategy of synthetic colloidal chemistry for bright and stable quantum dots has been the production of epitaxially matched core/shell heterostructures to mitigate the presence of deep trap states. This mindset has been shown to be incompatible with lead halide perovskite nanocrystals (LHP NCs) due to their dynamic surface and low melting point. Nevertheless, enhancements to their chemical stability are still in great demand for the deployment of LHP NCs in light-emitting devices. Rather than contend with their attributes, we propose a method in which we can utilize their dynamic, ionic lattice and uniquely defect-tolerant band structure to prepare non-epitaxial salt-shelled heterostructures that are able to stabilize these materials against their environment, while maintaining their excellent optical properties and increasing scattering to improve out-coupling efficiency. To do so, anchored LHP NCs are first synthesized through the heterogeneous nucleation of LHPs onto the surface of microcrystalline carriers, such as alkali halides. This first step stabilizes the LHP NCs against further merging, and this allows them to be coated with an additional inorganic shell through the surface-mediated reaction of amphiphilic Na and Br precursors in apolar media. These inorganically shelled NC@carrier composites offer significantly improved chemical stability toward polar organic solvents, such as γ-butyrolactone, acetonitrile, N-methylpyrrolidone, and trimethylamine, demonstrate high thermal stability with photoluminescence intensity reversibly dropping by no more than 40% at temperatures up to 120 °C, and improve compatibility with various UV-curable resins. This mindset for LHP NCs creates opportunities for their successful integration into next-generation light-emitting devices.

Giant Fine Structure Splitting of the Bright Exciton in a Bulk MAPbBr3 Single Crystal

Exciton fine structure splitting in semiconductors reflects the underlying symmetry of the crystal and quantum confinement. Because the latter factor strongly enhances the exchange interaction, most work has focused on nanostructures. Here, we report on the first observation of the bright exciton fine structure splitting in a bulk semiconductor crystal, where the impact of quantum confinement can be specifically excluded, giving access to the intrinsic properties of the material. Detailed investigation of the exciton photoluminescence and reflection spectra of a bulk methylammonium lead tribromide single crystal reveals a zero magnetic field splitting as large as ∼200 μeV. This result provides an important starting point for the discussion of the origin of the large bright exciton fine structure splitting observed in perovskite nanocrystals.

Size-Dependent Phase Transition in Perovskite Nanocrystals

The complex structure of halide and oxide perovskites strongly affects their physical properties. Here, the effect of dimensions reduced to the nanoscale has been investigated by a combination of single-dot optical experiments with a phase transition theory. Methylammonium lead bromide (CH₃NH₃PbBr₃) nanocrystals with two average particle sizes of ∼2 and ∼4 nm with blue and green photoluminescence, respectively, were spectrally and temporally probed on a single-particle level from 5 to 295 K. The results show that the abrupt blue shift of the photoluminescence spectra and lifetimes at ∼150 K can be attributed to the cubic-to-tetragonal phase transition in the large 4 nm nanocrystals, while this phase transition is completely absent for the small 2 nm particles in the investigated temperature range. Theoretical calculations based on Landau theory reveal a strong size-dependent effect on temperature-induced phase transitions in individual CH₃NH₃PbBr₃ nanocrystals, corroborating experimental observations. This effect should be considered in structure-property analysis of ultrasmall perovskite crystals.

The ground exciton state of formamidinium lead bromide perovskite nanocrystals is a singlet dark state

Lead halide perovskites have emerged as promising new semiconductor materials for high-efficiency photovoltaics, light-emitting applications and quantum optical technologies. Their luminescence properties are governed by the formation and radiative recombination of bound electron-hole pairs known as excitons, whose bright or dark character of the ground state remains unknown and debated. While symmetry analysis predicts a singlet non-emissive ground exciton topped with a bright exciton triplet, it has been predicted that the Rashba effect may reverse the bright and dark level ordering. Here, we provide the direct spectroscopic signature of the dark exciton emission in the low-temperature photoluminescence of single formamidinium lead bromide perovskite nanocrystals under magnetic fields. The dark singlet is located several millielectronvolts below the bright triplet, in fair agreement with an estimation of the long-range electron-hole exchange interaction. Nevertheless, these perovskites display an intense luminescence because of an extremely reduced bright-to-dark phonon-assisted relaxation.

Underestimated Effect of a Polymer Matrix on the Light Emission of Single CsPbBr3 Nanocrystals

Lead-halide perovskite APbX₃ (A = Cs or organic cation; X = Cl, Br, I) nanocrystals (NCs) are the subject of intense research due to their exceptional characteristics as both classical and quantum light sources. Many challenges often faced with this material class concern the long-term optical stability, a serious intrinsic issue connected with the labile and polar crystal structure of APbX₃ compounds. When conducting spectroscopy at a single particle level, due to the highly enhanced contaminants (e.g., water molecules, oxygen) over the NC ratio, deterioration of NC optical properties occurs within tens of seconds with typically used excitation power densities (1-100 W/cm²) and in ambient conditions. Here, we demonstrate that choosing a suitable polymer matrix is of paramount importance for obtaining stable spectra from a single NC and for suppressing the dynamic photoluminescence blueshift. In particular, polystyrene (PS), the most hydrophobic among four tested polymers, leads to the best optical stability, one to two orders of magnitude higher than that obtained with poly(methyl methacrylate), a common polymeric encapsulant containing polar ester groups. Molecular mechanics simulations based on a force-field approximation corroborate the hypothesis that PS affords for a denser molecular packing at the NC surface. These findings underscore the often-neglected role of the sample preparation methodologies for the assessment of the optical properties of perovskite NCs at a single-particle level and guide the further design of robust single photon sources.

Rationalizing and Controlling the Surface Structure and Electronic Passivation of Cesium Lead Halide Nanocrystals

Colloidal lead halide perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) have recently emerged as versatile photonic sources. Their processing and luminescent properties are challenged by the lability of their surfaces, i.e., the interface of the NC core and the ligand shell. On the example of CsPbBr₃ NCs, we model the nanocrystal surface structure and its effect on the emergence of trap states using density functional theory. We rationalize the typical observation of a degraded luminescence upon aging or the luminescence recovery upon postsynthesis surface treatments. The conclusions are corroborated by the elemental analysis. We then propose a strategy for healing the surface trap states and for improving the colloidal stability by the combined treatment with didodecyldimethylammonium bromide and lead bromide and validate this approach experimentally. This simple procedure results in robust colloids, which are highly pure and exhibit high photoluminescence quantum yields of up to 95-98%, retained even after three to four rounds of washing.

Long Exciton Dephasing Time and Coherent Phonon Coupling in CsPbBr2Cl Perovskite Nanocrystals

Fully inorganic cesium lead halide perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) have shown to exhibit outstanding optical properties such as wide spectral tunability, high quantum yield, high oscillator strength as well as blinking-free single photon emission, and low spectral diffusion. Here, we report measurements of the coherent and incoherent exciton dynamics on the 100 fs to 10 ns time scale, determining dephasing and density decay rates in these NCs. The experiments are performed on CsPbBr₂Cl NCs using transient resonant three-pulse four-wave mixing (FWM) in heterodyne detection at temperatures ranging from 5 to 50 K. We found a low-temperature exciton dephasing time of 24.5 ± 1.0 ps, inferred from the decay of the photon-echo amplitude at 5 K, corresponding to a homogeneous line width (fwhm) of 54 ± 5 μeV. Furthermore, oscillations in the photon-echo signal on a picosecond time scale are observed and attributed to coherent coupling of the exciton to a quantized phonon mode with 3.45 meV energy.

Excitonic phenomena in perovskite quantum-dot supercrystals

Quantum confinement and collective excitations in perovskite quantum-dot (QD) supercrystals offer multiple benefits to the light emitting and solar energy harvesting devices of modern photovoltaics. Recent advances in the fabrication technology of low dimensional perovskites has made the production of such supercrystals a reality and created a high demand for the modelling of excitonic phenomena inside them. Here we present a rigorous theory of Frenkel excitons in lead halide perovskite QD supercrystals with a square Bravais lattice. The theory shows that such supercrystals support three bright exciton modes whose dispersion and polarization properties are controlled by the symmetry of the perovskite lattice and the orientations of QDs. The effective masses of excitons are found to scale with the ratio of the superlattice period and the number of QDs along the supercrystal edge, allowing one to fine-tune the electro-optical response of the supercrystals as desired for applications. We also calculate the conductivity of perovskite QD supercrystals and analyze how it is affected by the optical generation of the three types of excitons. This paper provides a solid theoretical basis for the modelling of two- and three-dimensional supercrystals made of perovskite QDs and the engineering of photovoltaic devices with superior optoelectronic properties.