Colloidal nanophotonics: State-of-the-art and prospective

Abstract

Nanocrystalline platform based on colloidal nanophysics, nanochemistry and nanoengineering is the promising unique versatile scientific and technological basement for emerging nano-optoelectronics. The approach offers straightforward multilevel throughout bottom-up scaling including: subnanometer molecular scale interfaces, nanometer-scale semiconductor quantum dot systems, submicron photonic scale. Notably, the colloidal multilevel bottom-up approach as the technological paradigm and semiconductor quantum dots as its principal physical entity, when coupled together do offer the unprecedented road map towards versatile and affordable platform where every optoelectronic component, including light emitting diodes, LEDs, lasers, photodetectors, signal processing elements (e.g. electrooptical modulators, optical switches) and various sensors can be developed in unified and cheap technological processes to compete with existing multi-base and expensive technological approaches. Interfacing of electronic devices with biosystems is the additional essential advantageous outcome of the colloidal bottom-up approach.