Carrier recombination dynamics in individual CdSe nanowires

Carrier dynamics in single CdSe nanowires (NWs) have been studied using various techniques. They include measurements of single wire emission intensities as a function of pump fluence, excitation intensity-dependent emission quantum yields, and excited-state lifetimes. Ensemble transient differential absorption studies of induced bleach dynamics have also been conducted. Results of these studies show superlinear growth of the emission intensity as a function of excitation intensity. This is corroborated by single nanowire emission quantum yields that vary as a function of excitation fluence and range from 0.1% to values over 10%. At the same time, measured emission lifetimes are short (< 100 ps) while the nanowire band-edge bleach persists for over a nanosecond. To explain all of the abovementioned results, a kinetic model that accounts for both the nature of photogenerated carriers within the wires as well as their subsequent recombination dynamics has been developed.