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Solution-processed PbS quantum dot infrared laser with room-temperature tunable emission in the optical telecommunications window

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Abstract

Solution-processed semiconductor lasers have achieved much success across the nanomaterial research community, including in relation to organic semiconductors1,2, perovskites3,4 and colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals5,6. The ease of integration with other photonic components and the potential for upscaling using emerging large-area fabrication technologies (such as roll-to-roll7) make these lasers attractive as low-cost photonic light sources that can find use in a variety of applications, including integrated photonic circuitry8,9, telecommunications10,11, chemo-/bio-sensing12,13, security14 and lab-on-chip experiments15. However, for fibre-optic or free-space optical communications and eye-safe LIDAR applications, room-temperature solution-processed lasers have remained elusive. Here, we report a solution-processed laser comprising PbS colloidal quantum dots integrated on a distributed feedback cavity, with tunable lasing wavelength from 1.55 μm to 1.65 μm. These lasers operate at room temperature and exhibit linewidths as low as ~0.9 meV.

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Fig. 1: Device design and fabrication.
Fig. 2: DFB lasing characterization.
Fig. 3: Infrared lasing tunability.
Fig. 4: DFB lasing from n-doped PbS CQDs.

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Data availability

The data presented in this study are available in Zenodo with the identifier https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5112914. Supplementary Information data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Code availability

FDFD MATLAB codes are available in Zenodo with the identifier https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5112914.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge financial support from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 725165, to G.K.) and the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (grant agreement no. PID2020-112591RB-I00, to G.K.). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 754558 (to N.T). Additionally, this project has received funding from the Spanish State Research Agency, through the ‘Severo Ochoa’ Center of Excellence CEX2019-000910-S, the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya and Fundació Mir-Puig.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICFO, Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Castelldefels (Barcelona), Spain

    G. L. Whitworth, M. Dalmases, N. Taghipour & G. Konstantatos

  2. ICREA, Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Barcelona, Spain

    G. Konstantatos

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  1. G. L. Whitworth
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  2. M. Dalmases
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  3. N. Taghipour
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  4. G. Konstantatos
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Contributions

G.K. designed, supervised and directed the study. G.L.W. designed the experiments, performed the theoretical modelling and fabricated and characterized the laser structures and the thin films. M.D. sythesized the quantum dot materials. N.T. carried out FIB and SEM characterization measurements and contributed to thin film and laser development. G.L.W. and G.K. wrote the manuscript, with input from the co-authors.

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Correspondence to G. Konstantatos.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Peer review information Nature Photonics thanks Patanjali Kambhampati, Eiichi Kuramochi and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–17, Discussion and Tables 1 and 2.

Supplementary Video 1

Video of lasing threshold.

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Whitworth, G.L., Dalmases, M., Taghipour, N. et al. Solution-processed PbS quantum dot infrared laser with room-temperature tunable emission in the optical telecommunications window. Nat. Photon. 15, 738–742 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-021-00878-9

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