Sub-single exciton optical gain threshold in colloidal semiconductor quantum wells with gradient alloy shelling

  • Nima Taghipour
  • , Savas Delikanli
  • , Sushant Shendre
  • , Mustafa Sak
  • , Mingjie Li
  • , Furkan Isik
  • , Ibrahim Tanriover
  • , Burak Guzelturk
  • , Tze Chien Sum
  • , Hilmi Volkan Demir

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

53 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Colloidal semiconductor quantum wells have emerged as a promising material platform for use in solution-processable lasers. However, applications relying on their optical gain suffer from nonradiative Auger decay due to multi-excitonic nature of light amplification in II-VI semiconductor nanocrystals. Here, we show sub-single exciton level of optical gain threshold in specially engineered CdSe/CdS@CdZnS core/crown@gradient-alloyed shell quantum wells. This sub-single exciton ensemble-averaged gain threshold of (Ng)≈ 0.84 (per particle) resulting from impeded Auger recombination, along with a large absorption cross-section of quantum wells, enables us to observe the amplified spontaneous emission starting at an ultralow pump fluence of ~ 800 nJ cm−2, at least three-folds better than previously reported values among all colloidal nanocrystals. Finally, using these gradient shelled quantum wells, we demonstrate a vertical cavity surface-emitting laser operating at a low lasing threshold of 7.5 μJ cm−2. These results represent a significant step towards the realization of solution-processable electrically-driven colloidal lasers.

Original languageEnglish
Article number3305
JournalNature Communications
Volume11
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 3 Jul 2020
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemistry
  • General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology
  • General Physics and Astronomy

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