Feb. 2014 - present: Associate professor at the Chair of Optical Physics and Modern Natural Science, ITMO University
Dec 2016: Visiting Academic at NEST group, University of Exeter, UK
2012 - 2014: Postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Optical Physics and Modern Natural Science, ITMO University
2008 - 2012: Engineer at the Chair of Optical Physics and Modern Natural Science, ITMO University
2007 - 2008: Engineer at the Chair of Laser Technologies and Biomedicine Optics, ITMO University
Self-assembly and optical properties of semiconductor nanocrystals and their hybrid complexes with other nanomaterials
The main goal of novel Materials science is the design of materials with desired and controlled properties. This possibility is offered by nanostructured materials based on ensembles of nanoscale structural elements. In these materials, colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) may act as structural elements. Examples of nanostructured materials are 2D and 3D ordered CQDs ensembles called supercrystals (SCs). These structures possess unique properties depending on CQD properties and/or their mutual arrangement in the SCs. Thus, by altering the original structural elements and SC morphology, nanostructured materials with purposefully varied properties suitable for specific further utilization can be obtained.
We investigate the spatial arrangement and the influence of the CQD ordering on their optical properties and charge carrier dynamics. We have developed a method of chemical treatment of the QD surface to achieve the interparticle distances needed to further utilization of 2D CQD SCs in photonic elements. It has been found that 3D CQD SC systems possess optical activity, such as birefringence. The origin of these properties is still under investigation.