Waveguiding of Photoluminescence in a Layer of Semiconductor Nanoparticles

Semiconductor nanoparticles (SNPs), such as quantum dots (QDs) and core/shell nanoparticles, have proven to be promising candidates for the development of next-generation technologies, including light-emitting diodes (LEDs), liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and solar concentrators. Typically, these applications use a sub-micrometer-thick film of SNPs to realize photoluminescence. However, our current knowledge on how this thin SNP layer affects the optical efficiency remains incomplete. In this work, we demonstrate how the thickness of the photoluminescent layer governs the direction of the emitted light. Our theoretical and experimental results show that the emission is fully outcoupled for sufficiently thin films (monolayer of SNPs), whereas for larger thicknesses (larger than one tenth of the wavelength) an important contribution propagates along the film that acts as a planar waveguide. These findings serve as a guideline for the smart design of diverse QD-based systems, ranging from LEDs, where thinner layers of SNPs maximize the light outcoupling, to luminescent solar concentrators, where a thicker layer of SNPs will boost the efficiency of light concentration.