Absolute two-photon absorption cross-sections of single-exciton states in semiconductor nanocrystals

Abstract

Semiconductor nanocrystals (SNCs), in particular, quantum dots (QDs) and nanoplatelets (NPLs), have orders of magnitude higher two-photon absorption cross-sections (TPACS) than organic dyes, what paves the way to their advanced applications in bioimaging, sensing, and optoelectronics. Traditionally, z-scan and two-photon photoluminescence (PL) excitation spectroscopy are used to determine the TPACS values. The main disadvantage of both methods is the necessity to know the exact sample concentration. In this study, we describe an approach to the TPACS determination from the analysis of two-photon-excited (TPE) PL saturation in CdSe(core)/ZnS/CdS/ZnS(multishell) QDs and CdSe NPLs. The results obtained for NPLs using developed approach are significantly smaller than those obtained by the z-scan method and are close to the values obtained for QDs. We assume that this discrepancy occurs due to the fact, that unlike the z-scan technique, the TPE PL saturation method measures the TPACS only for single-exciton states because of the low PL quantum yields of multiexciton states. Therefore, there is no need to know the concentration, which eliminates the corresponding estimation error. Thus, the measurement of TPE PL saturation in SNCs makes it possible to determine the absolute values of the TPACS of single-exciton states, which are more informative for applications of TPE PL than the TPACS of mixed multiexciton states.