Thermally stimulated exciton emission in Si nanocrystals.

Increasing temperature is known to quench the excitonic emission of bulk silicon, which is due to thermally induced dissociation of excitons. Here, we demonstrate that the effect of temperature on the excitonic emission is reversed for quantum-confined silicon nanocrystals. Using laser-induced heating of silicon nanocrystals embedded in SiO, we achieved a more than threefold (>300%) increase in the radiative (photon) emission rate.