Electronic excitation energy transfer in an array of CdS quantum dots on a quasi-two-dimensional surface

The optical spectra of films composed of spherical silicon-dioxide particles coated with small-radius CdS quantum dots are recorded and analyzed. Large shifts of the absorption and photoluminescence bands are detected and studied in relation to the concentration of quantum dots and to the pumping density and wavelength. Analysis of the experimental data shows that the effects are due to electronic excitation energy transfer by particles through the mechanism of tunneling induced by a strong interaction between quantum dots. The results obtained at low pumping densities and different excitation wavelengths make it possible to describe the size distribution of CdS quantum dots. This distribution can be adequately approximated with a Gaussian function.