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Scientists
study quantum dot blinking
Other Topics: Nanotube
Forests
UPI
October 9, 2007
Argonne, IL -- U.S. physicists trying to determine the origins
of quantum dot blinking have created a method of
characterizing the phenomenon at faster time scales.
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne
National Laboratory, the University of Chicago and the
California Institute of Technology said nanocrystals of
semiconductor material -- known as quantum dots -- have great
promise as light-emitting materials. |
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The
wavelength, or color, of quantum dot lights can be very widely
tuned simply by changing the size of the nanoparticles. If a
single dot is observed under a microscope, it can be seen to
randomly switch between bright and dark states. But the causes
of the blinking remain the subject of intense study.
The new methods developed by Matt Pelton of Argonne's Center
for Nanoscale Materials and colleagues has revealed a
previously unobserved change in the blinking behavior on time
scales less than a few microseconds.
Scientists said the finding might provide new insight into the
mechanism of quantum-dot blinking and should help in the
development of methods to control and suppress blinking.
Detailed results of the complex study appear in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International. All Rights
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