Optical microcavities using highly luminescent films of semiconductor nanocrystals

Colloidally grown CdSe nanocrystals with epitaxial ZnS shells show highly efficient, size-tunable luminescence. We report the incorporation of films of these core-shell nanocrystals into wavelength-scale, high-Q, planar microcavities. Under optical excitation, we find that emission from the nanocrystals couples to the discrete optical modes of the microcavity. The broad free-space emission spectrum of the nanocrystals is modified by the presence of the microcavity, giving a series of sharp emission lines with wavelengths determined by the cavity dimension. Our experiments demonstrate that microcavities with semiconductor emitters can be conveniently fabricated using spin-coating techniques. We find that, at room temperature, the microcavity emission spectrum is independent of excitation intensity for excitation densities up to approximately one electron–hole pair per nanocrystal.