Excitonic diffusion dynamics in ZnO

We investigate excitonic carrier diffusion in both bulk ZnO and nanorods (NRs). Using time-resolved differential reflectivity spectroscopy, we observe a fast decaying component together with a longer exponential relaxation. In bulk ZnO, we find that the fast decay term (similar to 1 ps) originates from excitonic diffusion along the growth direction. By probing at both the A and B excitons, we find different diffusion coefficients for each. In ZnO nanorods, the diffusion contribution is missing. We attribute this to two effects: (1) defects in the nanorods substantially slow the diffusion process and (2) excitons in nanorods are generated more uniformly than in bulk. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3690055]