Alexey Ekimov

Ekimov was born in Leningrad, Soviet Union in 1945. In 1967, he graduated from the Faculty of Physics, Leningrad State University. He went on to receive his PhD in physics at the Ioffe Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1974.

After graduation, Ekimov moved to the Vavilov State Optical Institute to conduct research. He began studying semiconductor-activated glasses, known as Schott glasses, and developing theories to explain their color.{{Cite web |last=Robinson |first=Julia |title=The quantum dot story |url=https://www.chemistryworld.com/features/the-quantum-dot-story/4018219.article |access-date=2023-10-20 |website=Chemistry World |language=en}} When the glasses were heated and then cooled, copper chloride crystals formed, as revealed by X-rays, creating blue colors. Smaller crystals produced bluer glass.{{cite news |last1=Bubola |first1=Emma |last2=Miller |first2=Katrina |title=Nobel Prize in Chemistry Awarded to 3 Scientists for Exploring the Nanoworld |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/04/science/nobel-prize-chemistry.html |work=The New York Times |date=Oct 4, 2023}}

In 1981, Ekimov, along with Alexei A. Onushchenko, reported the discovery of quantum size effects in copper chloride nanocrystals in glass,{{cite journal |last1=Sanderson |first1=Katharine |last2=Castelvecchi |first2=Davide |title=Tiny 'quantum dot' particles win chemistry Nobel |journal=Nature |date=4 October 2023 |volume=622 |issue=7982 |pages=227–228 |doi=10.1038/d41586-023-03048-9 |pmid=37794149 |bibcode=2023Natur.622..227S |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03048-9 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Gramling |first1=Carolyn |title=The development of quantum dots wins the 2023 Nobel prize in chemistry |url=https://www.sciencenews.org/article/quantum-dots-nanoparticles-bawendi-brus-ekimov |work=Science News |date=4 October 2023}}{{cite news |last1=Clery |first1=Daniel |last2=Kean |first2=Sam |title=Creators of quantum dots, used in TV displays and cell studies, win chemistry Nobel |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/creators-of-quantum-dots-used-in-tv-displays-and-cell-studies-win-chemistry-nobel |work=Science |date=4 Oct 2023}}{{Cite journal |last1=Ekimov |first1=A. I. |last2=Onushchenko |first2=A. A. |date=1981-09-01 |title=Quantum size effect in three-dimensional microscopic semiconductor crystals |url=https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1981JETPL..34..345E |journal=Soviet Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics Letters |volume=34 |pages=345 |bibcode=1981JETPL..34..345E |issn=0021-3640}} a phenomenon known now known as quantum dots. During his time at the institute he further investigated these system and developed the theory of quantum confinement with Alexander Efros.{{cite journal |last1=Efros |first1=Alexander L. |last2=Brus |first2=Louis E. |title=Nanocrystal Quantum Dots: From Discovery to Modern Development |journal=ACS Nano |date=27 April 2021 |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=6192–6210 |doi=10.1021/acsnano.1c01399 |pmid=33830732 |url=https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acsnano.1c01399 |language=en |issn=1936-0851}}{{Cite journal |last1=Ekimov |first1=A. I. |last2=Onushchenko |first2=A. A. |last3=Plyukhin |first3=A. G. |last4=Efros |first4=Al. L. |date=1985-04-01 |title=Size quantization of excitons and determination of the parameters of their energy spectrum in CuCl |url=https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1985JETP...61..891E |journal=Soviet Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics |volume=61 |issue=4 |pages=891 |bibcode=1985JETP...61..891E |issn=1063-7761}}{{Cite journal |last1=Efros |first1=Al. L. |last2=Rosen |first2=M. |date=2000 |title=The Electronic Structure of Semiconductor Nanocrystals |url=https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev.matsci.30.1.475 |journal=Annual Review of Materials Science |language=en |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=475–521 |doi=10.1146/annurev.matsci.30.1.475 |bibcode=2000AnRMS..30..475E |issn=0084-6600}}

Since 1999, Ekimov has been living and working in the United States as a scientist for Nanocrystals Technology, a company based in New York State.{{Cite news |last=Devlin |first=Hannah |last2= |first2= |date=2023-10-04 |title=Scientists share Nobel prize in chemistry for quantum dots discovery |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/oct/04/nobel-prize-in-chemistry-winners-2023 |access-date=2023-10-06 |issn=0261-3077}}{{cite news |last1=Bubola |first1=Emma |last2=Miller |first2=Katrina |title=Nobel Prize in Chemistry Awarded to 3 Scientists for Work With Quantum Dots |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/04/science/nobel-prize-chemistry.html |access-date=4 October 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=4 October 2023}}

Ekimov was awarded the 1975 USSR State Prize in Science and Engineering for work on electron spin orientation in semiconductors. He is co-recipient of the 2006 R. W. Wood Prize of the Optical Society of America for "discovery of nanocrystal quantum dots and pioneering studies of their electronic and optical properties" shared with Alexander Efros and Louis E. Brus.{{cite news |title=Twenty attain 2006 top honors from the OSA |url=https://www.laserfocusworld.com/test-measurement/research/article/16567206/twenty-attain-2006-top-honors-from-the-osa |work=Laser Focus World |date=30 August 2006}}

Ekimov, Brus and Moungi Bawendi were the recipients of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots".{{Cite press release |date=4 October 2023 |title=They planted an important seed for nanotechnology |publisher=The Nobel Prize |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2023/press-release/}}

• {{cite journal |last1=Ekimov |first1=A. I. |last2=Onushchenko |first2=A. A. |title=[Quantum size effect in three-dimensional microscopic semiconductor crystals] |journal= Zhurnal Eksperimentalnoi I Teoreticheskoi Fiziki |date=30 September 1981 |volume=34 |pages=363–366 |language=Russian |url=http://jetpletters.ru/ps/1517/article_23187.shtml }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Ekimov |first1=A. I. |last2=Onushchenko |first2=A. A. |title=Quantum size effect in three-dimensional microscopic semiconductor crystals |journal=Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics Letters (JETP Lett.) |date=1982 |volume=34 |pages=345–349 |url=http://jetpletters.ru/ps/1517/article_23187.pdf }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Ekimov |first1=A. I. |last2=Efros |first2=Al. L. |last3=Onushchenko |first3=A. A. |title=Quantum size effect in semiconductor microcrystals |journal=Solid State Communications |date=1 December 1985 |volume=56 |issue=11 |pages=921–924 |doi=10.1016/S0038-1098(85)80025-9 |issn=0038-1098|doi-access=free |bibcode=1985SSCom..56..921E }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Ekimov |first1=A. I. |last2=Hache |first2=F. |last3=Schanne-Klein |first3=M. C. |last4=Ricard |first4=D. |last5=Flytzanis |first5=C. |last6=Kudryavtsev |first6=I. A. |last7=Yazeva |first7=T. V. |last8=Rodina |first8=A. V. |last9=Efros |first9=Al L. |title=Absorption and intensity-dependent photoluminescence measurements on CdSe quantum dots: assignment of the first electronic transitions |journal=JOSA B |date=1 January 1993 |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=100–107 |doi=10.1364/JOSAB.10.000100 |bibcode=1993JOSAB..10..100E |url=https://opg.optica.org/josab/abstract.cfm?uri=josab-10-1-100 |language=EN |issn=1520-8540}}

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• {{Nobelprize|name=Aleksey Yekimov}}

{{Nobel Prize in Chemistry Laureates 2001–2025}}

{{2023 Nobel Prize winners}}

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Category:1945 births

Category:Living people

Category:Nobel laureates in Chemistry

Category:Physical chemists

Category:Place of birth missing (living people)

Category:Recipients of the USSR State Prize

Category:Russian physicists

Category:Saint Petersburg State University alumni

Category:Soviet physicists

Category:Russian Nobel laureates

Category:Nanotechnologists

Category:20th-century Russian scientists