Technique developed at MIT reveals the motion of
energy-carrying quasiparticles in solid material.
A quasiparticle called an exciton — responsible for the
transfer of energy within devices such as solar cells, LEDs, and semiconductor
circuits — has been understood theoretically for decades. But exciton movement
within materials has never been directly observed.
Now scientists at MIT and the City College of New York have
achieved that feat, imaging excitons’ motions directly. This could enable
research leading to significant advances in electronics, they say, as well as a
better understanding of natural energy-transfer processes, such as
photosynthesis.