Active Tuning of Plasmon Damping via Light Induced Magnetism.

Circularly polarized optical excitation of plasmonic nanostructures causes coherent circulating motion of their electrons, which in turn gives rise to strong optically induced magnetization, a phenomenon known as the inverse Faraday effect (IFE). In this study we report how the IFE also significantly decreases plasmon damping. By modulating the optical polarization state incident on achiral plasmonic nanostructures from linear to circular, we observe reversible increases of reflectance by up to 8% and simultaneous increases of optical field concentration by 35.7% under 109 W/m2 continuous wave (CW) optical excitation. These signatures of decreased plasmon damping were also monitored in the presence of an external magnetic field (0.2 T). We rationalize the observed decreases in plasmon damping in terms of the Lorentz forces acting on the circulating electron trajectories. Our results outline strategies for actively modulating intrinsic losses in the metal via optomagnetic effects encoded in the polarization state of incident light.

Size- and temperature-dependent photoluminescence spectra of strongly confined CsPbBr3 quantum dots.

Lead-halide perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) are receiving much attention as a potential high-quality source of photons due to their superior luminescence properties in comparison to other semiconductor NCs. To date, research has focused mostly on NCs with little or no quantum confinement. Here, we measured the size- and temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) from strongly confined CsPbBr3 quantum dots (QDs) with highly uniform size distributions, and examined the factors determining the evolution of the energy and linewidth of the PL with varying temperature and QD size. Compared to the extensively studied II-VI QDs, the spectral position of PL from CsPbBr3 QDs shows an opposite dependence on temperature, with weaker dependence overall. On the other hand, the PL linewidth is much more sensitive to the temperature and size of the QDs compared to II-VI QDs, indicating much stronger coupling of excitons to the vibrational degrees of freedom both in the lattice and at the surface of the QDs.

On the determination of absorption cross section of colloidal lead halide perovskite quantum dots.

The absorption cross section of lead halide perovskite nanocrystals is important for understanding their photophysical properties, especially those depending on the density of photoexcited charge carriers. Despite its importance, there are large discrepancies among the reported absorption cross section values determined employing different methods. Here, we measured the absorption cross section of CsPbBr3 quantum dots (QDs) of varying sizes using elemental analysis and transient absorption (TA) saturation methods and compared with the previously reported values determined from elemental analysis and transient photoluminescence (PL) saturation methods. A careful comparison indicates that the reliable absorption cross section of lead halide perovskite QDs is obtained from both elemental analysis and TA saturation methods, while many previously reported values determined from the PL saturation method underestimate the absorption cross section.