Comparative analysis of magnetic resonance in the polaron pair recombination and the triplet exciton-polaron quenching models

• Published in: Physical review. B 2018-01, Vol.97 (3), Article 035402
• Main Authors: Mkhitaryan, V. V., Danilović, D., Hippola, C., Raikh, M. E., Shinar, J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Eigenvalues; Excitons; Line shape; Liouville equations; Magnetic resonance; MATERIALS SCIENCE; Photoexcitation; Photoluminescence; Polarons; Quenching; Spin dynamics
• ISSN: 2469-9950; 2469-9969
• DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.97.035402

We present a comparative theoretical study of magnetic resonance within the polaron pair recombination (PPR) and the triplet exciton-polaron quenching (TPQ) models. Both models have been invoked to interpret the photoluminescence detected magnetic resonance (PLDMR) results in π-conjugated materials and devices. We show that resonance line shapes calculated within the two models differ dramatically in several regards. First, in the PPR model, the line shape exhibits unusual behavior upon increasing the microwave power: it evolves from fully positive at weak power to fully negative at strong power. In contrast, in the TPQ model, the PLDMR is completely positive, showing a monotonic saturation. Second, the two models predict different dependencies of the resonance signal on the photoexcitation power, PL. At low PL, the resonance amplitude ΔI/I is ∝PL within the PPR model, while it is ∝PL2 crossing over to PL3 within the TPQ model. On the physical level, the differences stem from different underlying spin dynamics. Most prominently, a negative resonance within the PPR model has its origin in the microwave-induced spin-Dicke effect, leading to the resonant quenching of photoluminescence. The spin-Dicke effect results from the spin-selective recombination, leading to a highly correlated precession of the on-resonance pair partners under the strong microwave power. This effect is not relevant for TPQ mechanism, where the strong zero-field splitting renders the majority of triplets off resonance. On the technical level, the analytical evaluation of the line shapes for the two models is enabled by the fact that these shapes can be expressed via the eigenvalues of a complex Hamiltonian. This bypasses the necessity of solving the much larger complex linear system of the stochastic Liouville equations. Our findings pave the way towards a reliable discrimination between the two mechanisms via cw PLDMR.