A room temperature continuous-wave nanolaser using colloidal quantum wells

Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals have emerged as promising active materials for solution-processable optoelectronic and light-emitting devices. In particular, the development of nanocrystal lasers is currently experiencing rapid progress. However, these lasers require large pump powers, and realizing an efficient low-power nanocrystal laser has remained a difficult challenge. Here, we demonstrate a nanolaser using colloidal nanocrystals that exhibits a threshold input power of less than 1 μW, a very low threshold for any laser using colloidal emitters. We use CdSe/CdS core-shell nanoplatelets, which are efficient nanocrystal emitters with the electronic structure of quantum wells, coupled to a photonic-crystal nanobeam cavity that attains high coupling efficiencies. The device achieves stable continuous-wave lasing at room temperature, which is essential for many photonic and optoelectronic applications. Our results show that colloidal nanocrystals are suitable for compact and efficient optoelectronic devices based on versatile and inexpensive solution-processable materials.Colloidal nanocrystals are a promising material for easy-to-fabricate nanolasers, but suffer from high threshold powers. Here, the authors combine colloidal quantum wells with a photonic-crystal cavity into a stable, continuous-wave room-temperature nanolaser with a threshold below one microwatt.