Statistical aging and nonergodicity in the fluorescence of single nanocrystals

Phys Rev Lett. 2003 Mar 28;90(12):120601. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.120601. Epub 2003 Mar 26.

Abstract

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.

MeSH terms

  • Cadmium Compounds / chemistry*
  • Fluorescence
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence / methods
  • Nanotechnology / methods*
  • Quantum Theory
  • Selenium Compounds / chemistry*
  • Statistics as Topic / methods

Substances

  • Cadmium Compounds
  • Selenium Compounds