Couplage de nanocristaux fluorescents à des structures photoniques et plasmoniques

Le manuscrit décrit le couplage entre un émetteur fluorescent (nanocristaux colloïdaux) et son environnement photonique ou plasmonique. Différents types d'environnements sont considérés : cristal photonique 2D (réseau de trous) ou 3D (opale), surface métallique plane ou périodique, nano-antenne métallique, nano-cavité optique. Différents effets sont attendus du couplage d’un émetteur fluorescent à son environnement, qui peuvent permettre d’améliorer ses qualités de fluorescence par exemple en tant que source de photons uniques : exaltation, redirection, polarisation… Le contrôle de l'accord (spatial, spectral, orientation) entre l'émetteur et le mode optique est un aspect crucial du couplage

Light management in highly-textured perovskite solar cells: From full-device ellipsometry characterization to optical modelling for quantum efficiency optimization

While perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are now reaching high power conversion efficiencies (PCEs), further performance improvement requires a fine management and an optimization of the light pathway and harvesting in the cells. These go through an accurate understanding, characterization and modelling of the optical processes occurring in these complex, often textured, multi-layered systems. In the present work, we have considered a typical methylammonium lead iodide (MAPI) solar cell built on a fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) electrode of high roughness (43 nm RMS). By variable-angle spectroscopic ellipsometry (VASE) of the full PSC device, we have been able to determine the optical constants of all the device layers. We have designed a one-dimensional (1D) optical model of the stacked layers where the rough texture is described as layers of effective-medium index. We have supported the model using data extracted from scanning electron microscopy, diffuse spectroscopy and photovoltaic efficiency measurements. We show that the 1D model, while insufficient to describe scattering by the FTO plate alone, gives an accurate description of the full device optical properties. By comparison with the experimental external quantum efficiency (EQE), we estimate the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) and the effect of the losses related to electron transfer. Based on this work, we finally discuss the optical losses mechanisms and the possible strategies that can be implemented to improve light management within PSC devices and further increase their performances.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure

SYNTHESIS AND COMPARATIVE PHOTOLUMINESCENCE OF CdZnSe / ZnS AND CdZnSe / ZnSeS ALLOY QUANTUM DOTS

In order to search for new structures and compositions of quantum dots, suppress the blinking photoluminescence (random changes between high emission state ( on) and low emission status ( off ) under continuous photo- excitation ) and serve the application purposes in bio- medical and in optoelectronic devices , we have studied the fabrication of new alloy quantum dots ( QDs ). In this paper, we present new results on alloy core / shell quantum dots, with changed alloy shell composition, that was CdZnSe/ZnSexS1-x a ML with x ( x = 0 , 0.2, 0.4, 0.5 , 0.6, 0.8) and the shell thickness in monolayer (ML) ( a = 2 , 4 , 6 ) . The emission spectra and the intensity change according to the composition of the alloy shell. The full width a half maximum ( FWHM ) of the emission spectra of quantum dots CdZnSe is 25.5 nm. Covered with a shell layer, the emission intensity of the CdZnSe core increases along with the shell thickness. For comparison purpose, two different shell materials have been used, which are ZnS and ZnSeS alloy. With the same shell thickness, the emission wavelengths and intensity of the QDs change when the shell’s composition changes.The photoluminescence (PL) decay and the PL blinking of the alloy QDs was studied. It was shown that the alloy QDs spent by the nanocrystal in the ON state ranged typically between 20 and 40 %, and was dependent on the core composition. Detailed discussions on the experiment results are presented

External quality assessment of SARS-CoV-2-sequencing: An ESGMD-SSM pilot trial across 15 European laboratories

Objective: This first pilot on external quality assessment (EQA) of SARS-CoV-2 whole genome sequencing, initiated by the ESCMID Study Group for Genomic and Molecular Diagnostics (ESGMD) and Swiss Society for Microbiology (SSM), aims to build a framework between laboratories in order to improve pathogen surveillance sequencing.Methods: Ten samples with varying viral loads were sent out to 15 clinical laboratories who had free choice of sequencing methods and bioinformatic analyses. The key aspects on which the individual centres were compared on were identification of 1) SNPs and indels, 2) Pango lineages, and 3) clusters between samples.Results: The participating laboratories used a wide array of methods and analysis pipelines. Most were able to generate whole genomes for all samples. Genomes were sequenced to varying depth (up to 100-fold difference across centres). There was a very good consensus regarding the majority of reporting criteria, but there were a few discrepancies in lineage and cluster assignment. Additionally, there were inconsistencies in variant calling. The main reasons for discrepancies were missing data, bioinformatic choices, and interpretation of data.Conclusions: The pilot EQA was an overall success. It was able to show the high quality of participating labs and provide valuable feedback in cases where problems occurred, thereby improving the sequencing setup of laboratories. A larger follow-up EQA should, however, improve on defining the variables and format of the report. Additionally, contamination and/or minority variants should be a further aspect of assessment.</p

Cohérence temporelle des photons uniques émis par un nanocristal individuel de CdSe/ZnS

This thesis describes an experiment of Michelson interferometry realized to measure the time coherence of the emission of a single core/shell CdSe/ZnS nanocrystal. The difficulty for such a measurement resides in the fast (0.1 ms) diffusion of their emission line which broadens the measured spectrum. We introduce, in a quantum framework describing the experiment, a method called photon-correlation Fourier spectroscopy (PCFS), based on the measurement of short-delays correlations between the intensities detected at the outputs of the interferometer. Contrary to standard methods, PCFS combines good time- and spectral-resolution (which is theoretically calculated). This allows us to study single nanocrystals at 300, 20 and 10 K, and to characterize both their linewidth and spectral diffusion. We report a 6,5 micro-eV linewidth (corresponding to a 200 ps coherence time), better by almost two orders of magnitude than the linewidths measured by spectroscopy of a single nanocrystal (0.1-1 meV)Cette thése décrit une expérience d'interférométrie de Michelson réalisée pour mesurer la cohérence temporelle de l'émission d'un nanocristal individuel cœur/coquille de CdSe/ZnS. La difficulté d'une telle mesure réside dans la diffusion rapide (0,1 ms) de leur raie d'émission qui élargit le spectre mesuré habituellement. Nous introduisons, dans une description de l'expérience par un formalisme quantique, une méthode baptisée spectroscopie de Fourier à corrélation de photons (PCFS), reposant sur la mesure des corrélations aux temps courts entre les intensités détectées aux sorties de l'interféromètre. Contrairement aux méthodes spectroscopiques standard, la PCFS associe une bonne résolution temporelle à une bonne résolution spectrale (qui est calculée théoriquement en détail). Ceci nous permet d'étudier des nanocristaux individuels, à 300, 20 et 10 K, et de caractériser à la fois leur largeur spectrale et leur diffusion spectrale. Nous mesurons une largeur spectrale de 6,5 micro-eV (soit un temps de cohérence de 200 ps), meilleure de presque deux ordres de grandeur que les largeurs mesurées par spectroscopie d'un nanocristal individuel (0,1-1 meV)