title: Room temperature excitation spectroscopy of single quantum dots.
abstract: We report a single molecule detection scheme to investigate excitation spectra of single emitters at room temperature. We demonstrate the potential of single emitter photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy by recording excitation spectra of single CdSe nanocrystals over a wide spectral range of 100 nm. The spectra exhibit emission intermittency, characteristic of single emitters. We observe large variations in the spectra close to the band edge, which represent the individual heterogeneity of the observed quantum dots. We also find specific excitation wavelengths for which the single quantum dots analyzed show an increased propensity for a transition to a long-lived dark state. We expect that the additional capability of recording excitation spectra at room temperature from single emitters will enable insights into the photophysics of emitters that so far have remained inaccessible.
authors: Nanobiophysics Group and MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, PO Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors: Christian
authors: C
authors: Blum
authors: Frank
authors: F
authors: Schleifenbaum
authors: Martijn
authors: M
authors: Stopel
authors: Sébastien
authors: S
authors: Peter
authors: Marcus
authors: M
authors: Sackrow
authors: Vinod
authors: V
authors: Subramaniam
authors: Alfred J
authors: AJ
authors: Meixner