Characterizing Quantum-Dot Blinking Using Noise Power Spectra

TL;DR

This paper investigates the blinking behavior of quantum dots by analyzing their fluorescence noise power spectra, revealing power-law distributions of on/off times and providing a simple characterization method.

Contribution

It introduces a noise spectral analysis approach to characterize quantum dot blinking, linking spectral features to blinking dynamics.

Findings

Fluorescence fluctuations exhibit 1/f noise spectral form.

Power-law distributions of on/off times are observed.

Spectral analysis effectively characterizes blinking behavior.

Abstract

Fluctuations in the fluorescence from macroscopic ensembles of colloidal semiconductor quantum dots have the spectral form of 1/f noise. The measured power spectral density reflects the fluorescence intermittency of individual dots with power-law distributions of "on" and "off" times, and can thus serve as a simple method for characterizing such blinking behavior.