No Arabic abstract
The dynamical and static Rashba effects in hybrid methylammonium (MA) lead halide perovskites have recently been theoretically predicted. However, only the static effect was experimentally confirmed so far. Here we report on the dynamical Rashba effect observed using snapshot transient absorption spectral imaging with 400 nm pumping for a fully encapsulated film of 20-nm-sized 3D MAPbBr3 nanocrystals. The effect causes a 240 meV splitting of the lowest-energy absorption bleaching band, initially appearing over sub-ps timescale and progressively stabilizing to 60 meV during 500 ps. The integrated intensities of the split subbands demonstrate a photon-helicity-dependent asymmetry, thus proving the Rashba-type splitting and providing direct experimental evidence for the Rashba spin-split edge states in lead halide perovskite materials. The ultrafast dynamics is governed by the relaxation of two-photon-excited electrons in the Rashba spin-split system caused by a built-in electric field originating from dynamical charge separation in the entire MAPbBr3 nanocrystal.
Although the structural phase transitions in single-crystal hybrid methyl-ammonium (MA) lead halide perovskites (MAPbX3, X = Cl, Br, I) are common phenomena, they have never been observed in the corresponding nanocrystals. Here we demonstrate that two-photon-excited photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy is capable of monitoring the structural phase transitions in MAPbX3 nanocrystals because nonlinear susceptibilities govern the light absorption rates. We provide experimental evidence that the orthorhombic-to-tetragonal structural phase transition in a single layer of 20-nm-sized 3D MAPbBr3 nanocrystals is spread out within the 70 - 140 K range. This structural phase instability range arises because, unlike in single-crystal MAPbX3, free rotations of MA ions in the corresponding nanocrystals are no longer restricted by a long-range MA dipole order. The resulting configurational entropy loss can be even enhanced by the interfacial electric field arising due to charge separation at the MAPbBr3/ZnO heterointerface, extending the orthorhombic-to-tetragonal structural phase instability range from 70 to 230 K. We conclude that the weak sensitivity of conventional one-photon-excited PL spectroscopy to the structural phase transitions in 3D MAPbX3 nanocrystals results from the structural phase instability providing negligible distortions of PbX6 octahedra. In contrast, the intensity of two-photon-excited PL and electric-field-induced one-photon-excited PL still remains sensitive enough to weak structural distortions due to the higher rank tensor nature of nonlinear susceptibilities involved. We also show that room-temperature PL originates from the radiative recombination of the optical-phonon vibrationally excited polaronic quasiparticles with energies might exceed the ground-state Frohlich polaron and Rashba energies due to optical-phonon bottleneck.
The band-gaps of CsPbI$_3$ perovskite nanocrystals are measured by absorption spectroscopy at cryogenic temperatures. Anomalous band-gap shifts are observed in CsPbI$_3$ nanocubes and nanoplatelets, which are modeled accurately by band-gap renormalization due to lattice vibrational modes. We find that decreasing dimensionality of the CsPbI$_3$ lattice in nanoplatelets greatly reduces electron-phonon coupling, and dominant out-of-plane quantum confinement results in a homogeneously broadened absorption lineshape down to cryogenic temperatures. An absorption tail forms at low-temperatures in CsPbI$_3$ nanocubes, which we attribute to shallow defect states positioned near the valence band-edge.
Understanding whether dissipation in an open quantum system is truly quantum is a question of both fundamental and practical interest. We consider a general model of n qubits subject to correlated Markovian dephasing, and present a sufficient condition for when bath-induced dissipation can generate system entanglement and hence must be considered quantum. Surprisingly, we find that the presence or absence of time-reversal symmetry (TRS) plays a crucial role: broken TRS is required for dissipative entanglement generation. Further, simply having non-zero bath susceptibilities is not enough for the dissipation to be quantum. Our work also present an explicit experimental protocol for identifying truly quantum dephasing dissipation, and lays the groundwork for studying more complex dissipative systems and finding optimal noise mitigating strategies.
Excitonic/electronic coupling and cooperative interactions in self-assembled lead halide perovskite nanocrystals were reported to give rise to a collective low energy emission peak with accelerated dynamics. Here we report that similar spectroscopic features could appear as a result of the nanocrystal reactivity within the self-assembled superlattices. This is demonstrated by using CsPbBr3 nanocrystal superlattices under room temperature and cryogenic micro-photoluminescence spectroscopy. It is shown that keeping such structures under vacuum, a gradual contraction of the superlattices and subsequent coalescence of the nanocrystals occurs over several days. As a result, a narrow, low energy emission peak is observed at 4 K with a concomitant shortening of the photoluminescence lifetime due to the energy transfer between nanocrystals. When exposed to air, self-assembled CsPbBr3 nanocrystals develop bulk-like CsPbBr3 particles on top of the superlattices. At 4 K, these particles produce a distribution of narrow, low energy emission peaks with short lifetimes and excitation fluence-dependent, oscillatory decays, resembling the features of superfluorescence. Overall, the reactivity of CsPbBr3 nanocrystals dramatically alters the emission of their assemblies, which should not be overlooked when studying collective optoelectronic properties nor confused with superfluorescence effects.
Previous theoretical calculations show azetidinium has the right radial size to form a 3D perovskite with lead halides [1], and has been shown to impart, as the A-site cation of ABX3 unit, beneficial properties to ferroelectric perovskites [2]. However, there has been very limited research into its use as the cation in lead halide perovskites to date. In this communication we report the synthesis and characterization of azetidinium-based lead mixed halide perovskite colloidal nanocrystals. The mixed halide system is iodine and chlorine unlike other reported nanocrystals in the literature where the halide systems are either iodine/bromine or bromine/chlorine. UV-visible absorbance data, complemented with photoluminescence spectroscopy, reveals an indirect-bandgap of about 1.96 eV for our nanocrystals. Structural characterization using TEM shows two distinct interatomic distances (2.98 +/- 0.15 Angstroms and 3.43 +/- 0.16 Angstroms) and non-orthogonal lattice angles (approximately 112 degrees) intrinsic to the nanocrystals with a probable triclinic structure revealed by XRD. The presence of chlorine and iodine within the nanocrystals is confirmed by EDS spectroscopy. Finally, light-induced electron paramagnetic resonance (LEPR) spectroscopy with PCBM confirms the photoinduced charge transfer capabilities of the nanocrystals. The formation of such semiconducting lead mixed halide perovskite using azetidinium as the cation suggests a promising subclass of hybrid perovskites holding potential for optoelectronic applications such as in solar cells and photodetectors.