The ability of energy carriers to move within and between atoms and molecules underlies virtually all biochemical and material function. Understanding and controlling energy flow, however, requires observing it on ultrasmall and ultrafast spatiotemporal scales, where energetic and structural roadblocks dictate the fate of energy carriers. We therefore developed a universal, non-invasive optical scheme that leverages interferometric scattering to track energy transport in four dimensions of spacetime with few-nanometer precision and directly correlate it to material morphology. We visualize exciton, charge, and heat transport in polyacene, silicon and perovskite semiconductors and elucidate, in particular, how grain boundaries impact energy flow through their lateral- and depth-dependent resistivities. We reveal new strategies to interpret energy transport in disordered environments that will direct the design of defect-tolerant materials for the semiconductor industry of tomorrow. This talk will sample some of the above applications and also describe the specific nature of the contrast mechanism – local modifications to the electric polarizability of the material induced by photogenerated species – and our progress in describing it both experimentally and theoretically.<br/>

Sensitively probing spatiotemporal photogenerated quasiparticle dynamics with on- and off-resonant light scattering

2019 Fall National Meeting

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