(Invited) Colloidal Quantum Dot Laser Diodes: Three Decades in the Making

Abstract

It has been 30 years since the first demonstration of lasing with semiconductor nanocrystals embedded in glass matrices1 – the samples akin to standard colored glass filters. Following this discovery, it took three years to realize lasing with epitaxial QDs2 and six more years to demonstrate the effect of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) – a precursor of lasing – with colloidal QDs.3 So far, all reported studies into colloidal QD lasing have utilized optically excited samples. However, most of the prospective technological applications require electrically pumped devices, that is, laser diodes. The realization of such devices is complicated by multiple problems, widely deemed insurmountable. These include extremely fast nonradiative Auger recombination of optical-gain-active multicarrier states, poor stability of QD films under high current densities required for lasing, and unfavorable balance between optical gain and optical losses in electroluminescent (EL) devices wherein a gain-active QD medium is a small fraction of an overall device stack comprising multiple optically lossy charge-transport layers.Here we resolve these problems and achieve strong ASE with electrically driven QDs.4 To demonstrate this effect, we employ compact, continuously graded QDs with strongly suppressed Auger recombination incorporated into a low-loss photonic waveguide integrated into a pulsed light-emitting diode capable of operating at current densities of up to ~2000 A cm-2. These prototype ASE-type laser diodes exhibit strong, broad-band optical gain and demonstrate low-threshold, room-temperature ASE which leads to intense, edge-emitted EL whose instantaneous power reaches ~200 mW. 1. Vandyshev, Y. V., Dneprovskii, V. S., Klimov, V. I. & Okorokov, D. K. Lasing on a transition between quantum-well levels in a quantum dot. JETP Lett. 54, 442-445 (1991).2. Kistaedter, N., Ledentsov, N. N., Grundmann, M., Bimberg, D., Ustinov, V. M., Ruvimov, S. S., Maximov, M. V., Kopev, P. S., Alferov, Z. I. & Richter, U. Low threshold, large To injection laser emission from (InGa)As quantum dots. Electron. Lett. 30, 1416 (1994).3. Klimov, V. I., Mikhailovsky, A. A., Xu, S., Malko, A., Hollingsworth, J. A., Leatherdale, C. A., Eisler, H. J. & Bawendi, M. G. Optical gain and stimulated emission in nanocrystal quantum dots. Science 290, 314-317 (2000).4. Ahn, N., Livache, C., Pinchetti, V., Jung, H., Jin, H., Hahm, D., Park, Y.-S. & Klimov, V. I. Electrically driven amplified spontaneous emission from colloidal quantum dots. Nature 617, 79-85 (2023).