Optically Excited Lasing in a Cavity-Based, High-Current-Density Quantum Dot Electroluminescent Device

Laser diodes based on solution-processable materials can benefit numerous technologies including integrated electronics and photonics, telecommunications, and medical diagnostics. An attractive system for implementing these devices is colloidal semiconductor quantum dots (QDs). The progress towards a QD laser diode has been hampered by rapid nonradiative Auger decay of optical-gain-active multicarrier states, fast device degradation at high current densities required for laser action, and unfavorable competition between optical gain and optical losses in a multicomponent device stack. Here we resolve some of these challenges and demonstrate optically excited lasing from fully functional high-current density electroluminescent (EL) devices with an integrated optical resonator. This advance has become possible due to excellent optical gain properties of continuously graded QDs and a refined device architecture, which allows for highly efficient light amplification in a thin, EL-active QD layer.