Picosecond dynamics of photoexcited carriers in interacting silicon nanocrystals

The non-radiative Auger carrier recombination plays an important role in physics and the application of semiconductor nanocrystals. Here we report on the effect of inter-nanocrystal carrier interaction on Auger recombination. We prepared a special set of samples containing silicon nanocrystals embedded in silicon oxide with well-defined geometry. The picosecond carrier recombination rate measured by femtosecond pump and probe technique was found to be strongly dependent on the inter-nanocrystal separation. The observed decrease of the decay rate with nanocrystal separation on the nanometer scale is interpreted in terms of the wave function overlap appearing in the relevant matrix element describing the recombination process.