Colloidal semiconductor nanoplatelets exhibit strong quantum confinement for electrons and holes as well as excitons in one dimension, while their in-plane motion is free. Because of the large dielectric contrast between the semiconductor and its ligand environment, the Coulomb interaction between electrons and holes is strongly enhanced. By means of one- and two-photon photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy, we measure the energies of the 1S and 1P exciton states in CdSe nanoplatelets with thicknesses varied from 3 up to 7 monolayers. By comparison with calculations, performed in the effective mass approximation with account of the dielectric enhancement, we evaluate exciton binding energies of 195–315 meV, which is about 20 times greater than that in bulk CdSe. Our calculations of the effective Coulomb potential for very thin nanoplatelets are close to the Rytova-Keldysh model, and the exciton binding energies are comparable with the values reported for monolayer-thick transition metal dichalcogenides.

Optical phonon-assisted emission of dark excitons controls the intensity and maximum position of σ ⁻ and σ ⁺ polarized photoluminescence of CdSe nanocrystals.

Low-temperature magnetic and electric properties in hexagonal multiferroic compound YbMnO3 were studied. The Mn3+ spin moments order at TN = 85 K and reoriented around 43.5 K, leading to the magnetic phase transition from B2(P63cm) → A2(P63cm). The concomitant ferroelectric polarization is observed and explained microscopically by the destruction of initial symmetric relationship of the polarization between the upper and lower half of the magnetic unit cell. The asymmetry of the polarization vs temperature curves under opposite poling voltage revealed the pinning effect of the defects on the electrical polarization.