Direct determination of absorption anisotropy in colloidal quantum rods

We propose a direct method to determine absorption anisotropy of colloidal quantum rods. In this method, the rods are aligned in solution by using an alternating electric field and we measure simultaneously the resulting average change in absorption. We show that a frequency window for the electric field exists in which the change in absorbance as a function of field strength can be analyzed in terms of the quantum-rod dipole moment and the absorption coefficient for light that is polarized parallel or perpendicular to the long axis of the rod. The approach is verified by measuring the absorbance change of CdSe rods at 400 nm as a function of field strength, where we demonstrate excellent agreement between experiment and theory. This enables us to propose improved values for the CdSe quantum-rod extinction coefficient. Next, we analyze CdSe/CdS dot-in-rods and find that the absorption of the first exciton transition is fully anisotropic, with a vanishing absorption coefficient for light that is polarized perpendicularly to the long axis of the rods.