Efficient excitation of photoluminescence in a two-dimensional waveguide consisting of a quantum dot-polymer sandwich-type structure

International audience; In this Letter, we study a new kind of organic polymer waveguide numerically and experimentally by combining an ultrathin (10–50 nm) layer of compactly packed CdSe/ZnS core/shell colloidal quantum dots (QDs) sandwiched between two cladding poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) layers. When a pumping laser beam is coupled into the waveguide edge, light is mostly confined around the QD layer, improving the efficiency of excitation. Moreover, the absence of losses in the claddings allows the propagation of the pumping laser beam along the entire waveguide length; hence, a high-intensity photoluminescence (PL) is produced. Furthermore, a novel fabrication technology is develo…