Publications by authors named "G Ferrini"

Understanding the nature of the photoexcitation and ultrafast charge dynamics pathways in organic halide perovskite nanocubes and their aggregation into superlattices is key for potential applications as tunable light emitters, photon-harvesting materials, and light-amplification systems. In this work, we apply two-dimensional coherent electronic spectroscopy (2DES) to track in real time the formation of near-infrared optical excitons and their ultrafast relaxation in CH(NH)PbI nanocube superlattices. Our results unveil that the coherent ultrafast dynamics is limited by the combination of the inherent short exciton decay time (≃40 fs) and the dephasing due to the coupling with selective optical phonon modes at higher temperatures.

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The development of quantum simulators, artificial platforms where the predictions of many-body theories of correlated quantum materials can be tested in a controllable and tunable way, is one of the main challenges of condensed matter physics. Here we introduce artificial lattices made of lead halide perovskite nanocubes as a new platform to simulate and investigate the physics of correlated quantum materials. We demonstrate that optical injection of quantum confined excitons in this system realizes the two main features that ubiquitously pervade the phase diagram of many quantum materials: collective phenomena, in which long-range orders emerge from incoherent fluctuations, and the excitonic Mott transition, which has one-to-one correspondence with the insulator-to-metal transition described by the repulsive Hubbard model in a magnetic field.

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Single dielectric microspheres can manipulate light focusing and collection to enhance optical interaction with surfaces. To demonstrate this principle, we experimentally investigate the enhancement of the Raman signal collected by a single dielectric microsphere, with a radius much larger than the exciting laser spot size, residing on the sample surface. The absolute microsphere-assisted Raman signal from a single graphene layer measured in air is more than a factor of two higher than that obtained with a high numerical aperture objective.

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Mott transitions in real materials are first order and almost always associated with lattice distortions, both features promoting the emergence of nanotextured phases. This nanoscale self-organization creates spatially inhomogeneous regions, which can host and protect transient non-thermal electronic and lattice states triggered by light excitation. Here, we combine time-resolved X-ray microscopy with a Landau-Ginzburg functional approach for calculating the strain and electronic real-space configurations.

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