Statistical Aging and Non-Ergodicity in the Fluorescence of Single Nanocrystals

The relation between single particle and ensemble measurements is addressed for semiconductor CdSe nanocrystals. We record their fluorescence at the single molecule level and analyze their emission intermittency, which is governed by unusual random processes known as Lévy statistics. We report the o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2003, Vol.90, p.120601-1
Main Authors: Brokmann, Xavier, Hermier, Jean-Pierre, Messin, Gaëtan, Desbiolles, Pierre, Bouchaud, J.-P., Dahan, Maxime
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Condensed Matter
Materials Science
Physics
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The relation between single particle and ensemble measurements is addressed for semiconductor CdSe nanocrystals. We record their fluorescence at the single molecule level and analyze their emission intermittency, which is governed by unusual random processes known as Lévy statistics. We report the observation of statistical aging and ergodicity breaking, both related to the occurrence of Lévy statistics. Our results show that the behavior of ensemble quantities, such as the total fluorescence of an ensemble of nanocrystals, can differ from the time-averaged individual quantities, and must be interpreted with care.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.120601