Exciton-exciton annihilation and biexciton stimulated emission in graphene nanoribbons.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 26984281.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms11010 and PMC identifier 4800436.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Graphene nanoribbons display extraordinary optical properties due to one-dimensional quantum-confinement, such as width-dependent bandgap and strong electron-hole interactions, responsible for the formation of excitons with extremely high binding energies. Here we use femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy to explore the ultrafast optical properties of ultranarrow, structurally well-defined graphene nanoribbons as a function of the excitation fluence, and the impact of enhanced Coulomb interaction on their excited states dynamics. We show that in the high-excitation regime biexcitons are formed by nonlinear exciton-exciton annihilation, and that they radiatively recombine via stimulated emission. We obtain a biexciton binding energy of ≈ 250 meV, in very good agreement with theoretical results from quantum Monte Carlo simulations. These observations pave the way for the application of graphene nanoribbons in photonics and optoelectronics.