Broadband frequency-tunable whispering-gallery-mode superradiant light from quantum dots in colloidal solution

Abstract

We examine superradiant (SR) light or amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) from a whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) laser comprising various sized (CdSe) ZnS quantum dots (QDs) in colloidal liquid. Laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 40nm is observed when the colloidal QD system is pumped with 2 mJ of laser light at 355nm (3rd harmonic of Nd:YAG laser). Under optimal conditions of pump energy and focusing, ASE at 520 nm with a bandwidth of ΔΛ = 8 nm (FWHM) and divergence of 9 mrad is observed. When the QDs are embedded on a high-Q factor silica microsphere ((functionalized with an amine), SMA), they generate WGMs with random peak distributions. Finally, when all the QDs embedded in SMAs are mixed and placed in a cuvette, we obtain a "WGM laser" that is almost continuously tunable from 520nm to 630nm with a spectral width less than 2nm (FWHM) in the WGM and less than 1.2nm in the cavity mode. We believe that this is the first report on a frequency tunable laser obtained using (CdSe) ZnS QDs embedded in an SMA, exhibiting an efficiency of 0.06%.