ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews recent experimental work investigating various aspects of single cadmium selenide (CdSe) and cadmium telluride (CdTe) colloidal quantum dot (QD) optical dynamics. By simultaneously measuring the changes in the emission frequency and intensity of a large number of QDs, it uncovers evidence of complex mechanisms entangling the fluorescence intermittency with the spectral shifting. The chapter focuses on the mechanisms underlying the dynamic inhomogeneities—spectral diffusion and fluorescence intermittency—observed in the emission properties of single CdSe and CdTe colloidal QDs. The blinking of QDs showed a dependence on the surface overcoating, temperature, and excitation intensity. Individually or in any combination, increased thickness of zinc sulfide overcoating, lower temperatures, and lower excitation intensity all decreased the blinking rate. Through the concurrent measure of spectral diffusion and fluorescence intermittency, the chapter examines the extent of this influence from the QD environment and observes an unexpected relationship between spectral diffusion and blinking.
