Integration of Visible and IR-Active Semiconductor Nanocrystals with Optical Lithographic Processing

Semiconductor nanocrystals have garnered much interest recently for applications ranging from active media in lasers to biological tagging. Their strongly size-dependent optical properties provide a facile route for the construction of light sources for highly parallel applications. We present the first results of incorporating these quantum dots within fluorinated polymers that form low-loss waveguides in the near IR. Engineering the surface of the quantum dots with surfactants is shown to be critical in stabilizing these nanocrystals in low-loss polymers.