Ultranarrow Photoluminescence from Individual Graphene Nanoribbons Showing Single-Photon Emission.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 41889184.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1021/acs.nanolett.6c00287 and PMC identifier 13067378.
- 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 (GNRs) combine the remarkable optical and electronic properties of graphene with the presence of a tunable band gap, making them promising for optoelectronic applications. Here, we investigate the excitonic properties of individual cove-edge GNRs through microphotoluminescence (micro-PL) spectroscopy. We observe ultranarrow emission lines with full width at half-maximum as low as 24 μeV, demonstrating a reduction of inhomogeneous broadening by 3 orders of magnitude compared to GNR ensembles. Temperature-dependent PL reveals phonon-mediated broadening mechanisms, with electron-phonon coupling parameters in agreement with ensemble studies but with dramatically reduced line widths. Time-resolved PL suggests long-lived excitonic states, while spectral diffusion analysis demonstrates stable emission energies, highlighting the exceptional quality of these GNRs as single-photon emitters. The absence of intensity blinking and low Mandel parameters further support the robustness of the emission properties. Our findings establish cove-edge GNRs as promising candidates for quantum light sources and nanoscale optoelectronic applications.