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Semiconductor Quantum Dots in Amorphous Materials

  • Chapter
Optical Properties of Excited States in Solids

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((NSSB,volume 301))

Abstract

Quantum dots based on semiconductors have acquired increasing interest recently. Band filling and screening of excitons by free carriers are the most important mechanisms for the large resonant nonlinearity of semiconductors. The information in the literature is mostly concerned with semiconductor crystals or conventional filter glasses doped by semiconductor particles. Due to the spatial confinement of the photogenerated charged carriers, the electronic levels of small size particles rise to higher energies than in bigger particles, In such a case, one can treat the problem in a one-dimensional box; whereas, the energetic band continuum splits into discrete quantized levels which can be detected in the absorption and excitation spectra.

We shall discuss recent techniques of incorporation of semiconductor particles of varying size into glass bulks or films prepared by the sol-gel method, composite materials and polymers. Contrary to the conventional glass filters, the time response of nonlinearity in semiconductor doped glass or polymer films can be much faster because of the higher surface density of the carriers responsible for the nonlinear behavior. It will be shown how excited electronic levels of the quantum dots can be obtained from the inflection points in their absorption spectra and the size and distribution of the particles from luminescence spectra. The semiconductor doped glasses are compared to glasses doped by organic dyes having nonlinear properties.

Enrique Berman Professor of Solar Energy

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  1. Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904, Jerusalem, Israel

    Renata Reisfeld

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  1. Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA

    Baldassare Di Bartolo  & Clyfe Beckwith  & 

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Reisfeld, R. (1992). Semiconductor Quantum Dots in Amorphous Materials. In: Di Bartolo, B., Beckwith, C. (eds) Optical Properties of Excited States in Solids. NATO ASI Series, vol 301. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-3044-2_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-3044-2_17

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