Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 102-114).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

The specialized pigment-protein complexes involved in the first process of photosynthesis are light-harvesting structures that are composed of networks of chromophores in protein scaffolds. Though light-harvesting complexes vary in chromophore composition and protein structure, they are capable of transferring the absorbed energy as molecular excitation energy from chromophore to chromophore with maximal efficiency. Thus, numerous interdisciplinary studies focus on elucidating energy transfer mechanisms in these biological complexes and how the same principles can be applied to artificial photosynthetic and photovoltaic machines. From advanced spectroscopic measurements and theoretical models, the interaction between the excited electronic states and the nuclear vibrational degrees of freedom is now established to be crucial for efficient energy transfer. In light-harvesting complexes of plants and bacteria, it is now understood that the classical-like vibrational modes of the protein and solvent environment drive energy transfer between the energetically close electronic states of the chromophores. On the other hand, recent spectroscopic measurements on algae light-harvesting complexes discovered signatures of quantized, high frequency vibrational modes of the chromophore. Unfortunately, a deterministic interpretation of the data and the underlying Hamiltonian is hindered due to significant inhomogeneous spectral line-broadening. Though numerous model Hamiltonians have been proposed from theoretical work, various computational approximations employed in these studies necessitate empirical parameter tuning in order to obtain agreement with benchmark linear optical spectra. Thus in this work, we present a simple, but improved, computational prescription to compute the ensemble of Hamiltonians for four closely-related algae light-harvesting complexes. We verify the reliability of our proposed models by comparing simulated optical spectra with experimental measurements. We show that static disorder and inhomogeneous broadening are significant for phycobiliproteins due to large site energy fluctuations. We also show that the nuclear environment plays an important role in defining the trapping state, or the final energy acceptor. Finally, our work for the first time suggests that EET dynamics can be tuned by varying the titration states of the chromophores.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Neste trabalho apresentaremos os resultado de nossas investigacões e caracterização através da técnica de Espectroscopia de Fotoluminescência em 03(três) amostras que consiste de Poços Quânticos Quadrados Duplos que serão designados por essa abreviação DQWs de AlGaAs=AlAs de diferentes percentual de alumínio nos poços quânticos.

The ultrafast charge dynamics in a number of nanostructured materials relevant to the production of renewable energy are investigated using ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy. The materials include mercury telluride and cadmium mercury telluride quantum dots, and gold nanoparticles loaded on titanium dioxide colloidal spheres. The analysis of the resultant pump-induced transmittance change spectra and transients allow the determination of charge relaxation routes including multiple exciton generation, trion formation and direct-surface trapping. The investigation of HgTe QDs passivated with thioglycerol, mercaptopropionic acid and dodecanethiol ligands suggests that mercaptopropionic acid ligand results in better passivation of HgTe QDs due to its carboxylic acid group. It allows more electron density donation to the QD surface to passivate the traps related with unsaturated Hg bonds and hence supresses the associated non-radiative processes. The decay lifetimes of the thioglycerol/dodecanethiol-capped QDs in addition to the photo-induced absorption feature in their spectra, are found to be consistent with surface charge trapping observed in CdSe QDs. In comparison, the transients obtained for mercaptopropionic acid passivated QDs coupled with the pump-induced transmittance change spectrum show no sign of any surface-related processes. Therefore, our analyses allow the determination of multiple exciton generation for the first time in these QDs with a quantum yield of 1.36 ± 0.04 when photo-exciting with photons of energy 3.1 times the band gap. Such result should turn researchers’ attention to those ligands which could improve the QD solar cell field. The study of exciton dynamics in CdxHg(1-x)Te alloy QDs is also presented here. Their pump-induced transmittance change spectrum show two bleaches: at the shoulder position of the steady state absorption and at the PL peak. The exciton dynamics of these materials are studied using four different wavelengths, two of them are above the MEG threshold. The resultant transmittance transients and the pump-induced transmittance change spectrum are free of any photo-induced absorption or long-lived surface trapping. Hence, the decay of the transients obtained above the MEG threshold for well-stirred samples at low pump fluences is attributed to biexciton recombination. The assessment of multiple exciton generation reveals a quantum yield value of 1.12 ± 0.01 when photo-exciting with 2.6 times the band gap. Finally, the investigation of the recovery of the plasmon bleach in TiO2 colloidal spheres decorated with different sizes of Au NPs is presented in this thesis. The pump-induced transmittance change spectra obtained for two different wavelengths show bleaches at the plasmon band maximum superimposed with two wings of absorption features at shorter and longer wavelengths. The resultant transmittance transients for these samples are well-described by bi-exponential decay with a very quick decline of a few ps associated with electron–phonon scattering, followed by a slower decay over a few 10s of ps associated with heat dissipation. Only the heat dissipation rate is found to be dependent on the size of the Au NPs as it rises from 49 ± 3 ps to 128 ± 6 ps when the diameter of the Au NPs is increased from 12.2 ± 2.2 nm to 24.5 ± 2.8 nm, respectively.

This thesis focuses on pioneering a scalable route to fabricate quantum information devices based upon single InAs/InP quantum dots emitting in the telecommunications wavelength band around 1550 nm. Using metallic gates in combination with nanotemplate, site-selective epitaxy techniques, arrays of single quantum dots are produced and electrostatically tuned with a high degree of control over the electrical and optical properties of each individual quantum dot. Using metallic gates to apply local electric fields, the number of electrons within each quantum dot can be tuned and the nature of the optical recombination process controlled. Four electrostatic gates mounted along the sides of a square-based, pyramidal nanotemplate in combination with a flat metallic gate on the back of the InP substrate allow the application of electric fields in any direction across a single quantum dot. Using lateral fields provided by the metallic gates on the sidewalls of the pyramid and a vertical electric field able to control the charge state of the quantum dot, the exchange splitting of the exciton, trion and biexciton are measured as a function of gate voltage. A quadrupole electric field configuration is predicted to symmetrize the product of electron and hole wavefunctions within the dot, producing two degenerate exciton states from the two possible optical decay pathways of the biexciton. Building upon these capabilities, the anisotropic exchange splitting between the exciton states within the biexciton cascade is shown to be reversibly tuned through zero for the first time. We show direct control over the electron and hole wavefunction symmetry, thus enabling the entanglement of emitted photon pairs in asymmetric quantum dots. Optical spectroscopy of single InAs/InP quantum dots atop pyramidal nanotemplates in magnetic fields up to 28T is used to examine the dispersion of the s, p and d shell states. The g-factor and diamagnetic shift of the exciton and charged exciton states from over thirty single quantum dots are calculated from the spectra. The g-factor shows a generally linear dependence on dot emission energy, in agreement with previous work on this subject. A positive linear correlation between diamagnetic coefficient and g-factor is observed.

Quantum dots (QDs) have the potential to produce more than one exciton per incident photon, if the photon energy is greater than twice the band gap energy. This process of multiple exciton generation (MEG) has the potential to lead to a step change in the efficiency of solar panels, by utilising energy commonly wasted as heat in conventional solar cells. A wide range of CdSe/CdTe and CdTe/CdSe quantum dots with and without a CdS shell were synthesised with varying core sizes and shell thicknesses. The excited state dynamics of these samples were studied with transient absorption and photoluminescence studies, with their MEG efficiencies obtained. Record MEG efficiencies were obtained with values reaching 142 ± 9 % achieved. The charge separation afforded by the type-II electronic configuration, allowed the first attractive biexciton interaction for a type-II QD system, with the potential for reducing the creation energy for a second exciton this affords. Efficient surface passivation of QDs was achieved through the reaction of CdCl2 with CdTe QDs, with near unity photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQYs) achieved. The suppression of surface trap states resulted in mono-exponential photoluminescence decay traces, with a resultant increase in exciton lifetime. Further CdCl2 treatment was carried out on CdSe/CdTe quasi-type-II QDs with alternating ‘Cd rich’ and ‘Te rich’ surfaces to elucidate the processes involved in surface treatment. It is shown that Te surface atoms are preferentially etched upon treatment, with the reaction being more aggressive when ‘Te rich’ surfaces are treated. The importance of surface composition is studied with trap states associated with chalcogen dangling bonds more prevalent and hence the increased requirement for their passivation is outlined. Control of the core/shell interface is also shown to be important in reducing trap states and ultimately increasing PLQYs, which is desirable for many optoelectronic applications.

Lead Halide Perovskites (LHPs) have emerged as an outstanding optical material, chiefly as attractive options for studies of light emission, due to their high quantum efficiencies, broad wavelength tuneability via chemical substitution, and facile growth conditions. LHPs have also been increasingly considered as an ideal candidate for exploring applications of exciton-polariton condensation, with a recent explosion of research in this area. The physical properties of LHPs are distinct from traditional materials often used to study exciton-polaritons, leading to debates over photo-physical mechanisms of stimulated emission, and interpretation of experimental results. This thesis addresses these debates in two parts, discussing (1) how the relatively low exciton-binding energy and phonon-bottleneck effects often leads to exciton dissociation prior to the laser powers needed to observe stimulated emission, and (2) how the optical birefringence associated with bulk CsPbBr3 at cryogenic temperatures will produce novel optical potentials which amount to a synthetic spin-orbit coupling of exciton-polaritons within a perovskite microcavity. These conclusions are reached by a combination of static and time-resolved spectroscopies, along with polarization-resolved Fourier-imaging optical techniques.

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