Exciton Fine Structure in Lead Chalcogenide Quantum Dots: Valley Mixing and Crucial Role of Intervalley Electron–Hole Exchange

We study the exciton fine structure in quantum dots of multivalley lead chalcogenides. We demonstrate that intervalley electron-hole exchange interaction, ignored in previous studies, dramatically modifies the exciton fine structure and leads to appearance of the ultrabright valley-symmetric spin-triplet exciton state dominating interband optical absorption. Valley mixing leads to brightening of other symmetry-allowed spin-triplet states which dominate low-temperature photoluminescence.