Bright Infrared Nanocrystals: Synthesis and Nonradiative Mechanisms

The field of semiconductor quantum dots has seen tremendous progress over the last few decades. Although quantum dots emitting at visible wavelengths have been extensively studied and display near-unity quantum yields, quantum dots remain relatively poor emitters in the midwave- shortwave- infrared wavelengths. Quantum dots hold immense potential for fabricating low cost infrared detectors and emitters, but their performance is severely limited by their poor emission efficiency and fast nonradiative relaxation. In my PhD, I have developed methods to slow the nonradiative rate in quantum dots in midwave- and shortwave- infrared wavelengths, and developed insights into the underlying nonradiative mechanisms.