Quantifying energy transfer in semiconductor nanocrystals using coherent phonon manipulation and ultrafast spectroscopy (Presentation Recording)

One potential way to increase photovoltaic efficiency is to take advantage of hot-carriers. Nanocrystal based solar cells aim to take advantage of hot-carrier capture to boost device performance. The crucial parameter for gauging a given nanocrystal material for this application is the electron-phonon coupling. The electron-phonon coupling will dictate the thermalization time of hot-carriers. In this study we demonstrate a method of quantifying the electron-phonon coupling in semiconductor nanocrystals. By employing ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy with temporal pulse shaping, we manipulate coherent phonons in CdTe_{1-x}Se_{x} nanocrystals to quantify the efficiency of the electron-phonon coupling. The Raman active longitudinal optical phonon (LO) modes were excited and probed as a function of time. Using a temporal pulse shaper, we were able to control pump pulse pairs to coherently excite and cancel coherent phonons in the CdTe_{1-x}Se_{x} nanocrystals, and estimate the relative amount of optical energy that is coupled to the coherent CdSe LO mode which is the dominant thermalization pathway for the hot-electrons in this system.