Research enhances single particle tracking, allows novel light-emitting diodes, and boosts development of new solar cells
Significant progress is being made in understanding the phenomenon of quantum-dot blinking, as documented in Los Alamos research published in Nature.
Their findings should enhance the ability of biologists to track single particles, enable technologists to create novel light-emitting diodes and single-photon sources, and boost efforts of energy researchers to develop new types of highly efficient solar cells.
Quantum blinking can be controlled
Most exciting is that the Los Alamos researchers have shown that blinking can be controlled and even completely suppressed electrochemically. As the Nature article describes, the group developed a novel spectro-electrochemical experiment that allowed them to controllably charge and discharge a single quantum dot while monitoring its blinking behavior. These experiments facilitated the discovery of two distinct blinking mechanisms.