Resonance Raman and photoluminescence excitation profiles and excited-state dynamics in CdSe nanocrystals

Resonance Raman excitation profiles for the longitudinal optical (LO) phonon fundamental and its first overtone have been measured for organic ligand capped, wurtzite form CdSe nanocrystals of similar to 3.2 nm diameter dissolved in chloroform. The absolute differential Raman cross-section for the fundamental is much larger when excited at 532 or 543 nm, on the high-frequency side of the lowest-wavelength absorption maximum, than for excitation in the 458-476 nm range although the absorbance is higher at the shorter wavelengths. That is, the quantum yield for resonance Raman scattering is reduced for higher-energy excitation. In contrast, the photoluminescence quantum yield is relatively constant with wavelength. The optical absorption spectrum and the resonance Raman excitation profiles and depolarization dispersion curves are reproduced with a model for the energies, oscillator strengths, electron-phonon couplings, and dephasing rates of the multiple low-lying electronic excitations. The Huang-Rhys factor for LO phonon in the lowest excitonic transition is found to lie in the range S = 0.04-0.14. The strong, broad absorption feature about 0.5 eV above the lowest excitonic peak, typically labeled as the 1P(3/2)1P(e) transition, is shown to consist of at least two significant components that vary greatly in the magnitude of their electron-phonon coupling. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.