14 Jan 2021
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Columbia engineers are the first to have observed avalanches in nanoparticles. Following in the footsteps of photon avalanching (PA) forty years ago, researchers now look forward to the significant impact of the potential technical transformations afforded by newly demonstrated avalanching nanoparticles (ANP).
Image: An illustration of the chain-reaction process that underlies the photon avalanching mechanism Columbia Engineering researchers have realized in their nanoparticles. In this process, the absorption of a single low-energy photon sets off a chain reaction of energy transfers and further absorption events that result in many highly excited ions within the nanoparticle, which then release their energy in the intense emission of many higher-energy photons.