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Nature Materials 7, 612–613 (1 August 2008) | doi:10.1038/nmat2239

Nanocrystals: Almost always bright

Alexander L. Efros

Imagine the irritation and frustration you would feel if the bulb in your reading lamp started to blink. These same emotions are experienced by engineers and scientists who study single colloidal nanocrystals and try to use their fluorescent properties for biological imaging or lasing.