Beyond quantum confinement: excitonic nonlocality in halide perovskite nanoparticles with Mie resonances.

Halide perovskite nanoparticles have demonstrated pronounced quantum confinement properties for nanometer-scale sizes and strong Mie resonances for 102 nm sizes. Here we studied the intermediate sizes where the nonlocal response of the exciton affects the spectral properties of Mie modes. The mechanism of this effect is associated with the fact that excitons in nanoparticles have an additional kinetic energy that is proportional to k2, where k is the wavenumber. Therefore, they possess higher energy than in the case of static excitons. The obtained experimental and theoretical results for MAPbBr3 nanoparticles of various sizes (2-200 nm) show that for particle radii comparable with the Bohr radius of the exciton (a few nanometers in perovskites), the blue-shift of the photoluminescence, scattering, and absorption cross-section peaks related to quantum confinement should be dominating due to the weakness of Mie resonances for such small sizes. On the other hand, for larger sizes (more than 50-100 nm), the influence of Mie modes increases, and the blue shift remains despite the fact that the effect of quantum confinement becomes much weaker.

Light-Emitting Halide Perovskite Nanoantennas.

Nanoantennas made of high-index dielectrics with low losses in visible and infrared frequency ranges have emerged as a novel platform for advanced nanophotonic devices. On the other hand, halide perovskites are known to possess high refractive index, and they support excitons at room temperature with high binding energies and quantum yield of luminescence that makes them very attractive for all-dielectric resonant nanophotonics. Here we employ halide perovskites to create light-emitting nanoantennas with enhanced photoluminescence due to the coupling of their excitons to dipolar and multipolar Mie resonances. We demonstrate that the halide perovskite nanoantennas can emit light in the range of 530-770 nm depending on their composition. We employ a simple technique based on laser ablation of thin films prepared by wet-chemistry methods as a novel cost-effective approach for the fabrication of resonant perovskite nanostructures.

Nonlinear surface waves at the interfaces of left-handed electromagnetic media.

We report the existence of families of nonlinear TE-polarized surface waves propagating along the interface between different conventional and left-handed electromagnetic media as well as between two left-handed media. Both nonlinear/nonlinear and linear/nonlinear interfaces are considered. The constraints for the mode existence are identified and the energy flow associated with the surface modes is calculated.

Charge-induced anisotropic distortions of semiconducting and metallic carbon nanotubes.

To accommodate extra electrons or holes injected into a single-wall carbon nanotube, carbon-carbon bonds adjust their lengths. Resulting changes in carbon-nanotube length as a function of charge injection provide the basis for electromechanical actuators. We show that a key mechanism at low injection levels, modulation of electron kinetic energy, provides nanotube deformations that are both anisotropic and strongly dependent on nanotube structure. Nanotubes can exhibit both expansion and contraction, as well as nonmonotonic size changes. The magnitude of the actuation response of semiconducting carbon nanotubes may be substantially larger than that of graphite.

Anomalous coherent backscattering of light from opal photonic crystals.

We studied coherent backscattering (CBS) of light from opal photonic crystals with incomplete band gaps. We observed a dramatic broadening of the CBS cone for incident angles close to the Bragg condition in the crystals. We modify the conventional CBS theory to incorporate Bragg attenuation resulting from the photonic band structure. By fitting the CBS data with the modified theory, we extract both the disorder-induced light mean-free path and the Bragg attenuation length of the inherent opal photonic crystal.

Electro-optic behavior of liquid-crystal-filled silica opal photonic crystals: effect of liquid-crystal alignment.

Photonic crystals made of nematic liquid crystal intercalated into the void space of close-packed silica spheres (synthetic porous opal) exhibit significant electric-field-induced shift of the optical Bragg reflection peak when the liquid crystal has the long molecular axis oriented parallel to the sphere surfaces. No such effect is observed for comparable fields when the long-axis orientation is normal to the sphere surfaces.