Efficient two-photon absorption of CdSe-CdS/ZnS core-multishell quantum dots under the excitation of near-infrared femtosecond pulsed laser

Abstract

We report that two-photon absorption (TPA) properties of semiconductor CdSe-core CdS/ZnS-multishell quantum dots (QDs) in toluene under excitation of femtosecond laser at 800 nm. The results show efficient TPA process and large TPA cross section of three types of size QDs, which is 1900, 5710, and 16060 GM (1 GM = 10−50 cm4 s photon−1), respectively. TPA cross section dramatically increases with increased core size, showing a strong size-dependence effect. Furthermore, two-photon excitation (TPE) fluorescence intensity not only depends on TPA capacity, but also relies on improved quantum yield resulting from passivation of QD surface by different coated monolayers (MLs). These facts in combination with the narrow fluorescence bandwidth make these QDs as promising probes for multicolor two-photon microscopy.