Anomalous circular polarization of magneto-photoluminescence from individual CdSe nanocrystals

Abstract

We study the low-temperature magneto-photoluminescence (PL) from individual CdSe nanocrystals. Nanocrystals having a small "bright" exciton fine structure splitting ($<$0.5 meV) exhibit a conventional left- and right-circularly polarized Zeeman PL doublet in applied magnetic fields. In contrast, nanocrystals with large fine structure splitting ($>$1 meV) show an anomalous magneto-PL polarization, wherein the lower-energy peak becomes circularly polarized with increasing field, while the higher-energy peak remains linearly polarized. This unusual behavior arises from strong mixing between the absorbing and emitting bright exciton levels due to strong anisotropic exchange interactions.