Luminescence and gain around 1.3 /spl mu/m in PbS quantum dots

Summary form only given.Strong luminescence and gain is observed for PbS quantum dot (QD) doped glasses at the 1.3 /spl mu/m communications wavelength under CW and pulsed laser excitation, respectively, at 980 nm. This observation generates new interest in PbS QDs as promising candidates as an alternative to Er-doped amplifiers for communications applications. Thermal treatment of an oxide molten glass is an inexpensive method to manufacture semiconductor quantum dot doped glasses with well-defined exciton peaks and small. Inhomogeneous broadening. The PbS QDs studied here have radii much smaller than the bulk exciton Bohr radius providing strong quantum confinement effects. As a result, the exciton resonances can be tuned to the communication wavelengths of 1.3 and 1.55 /spl mu/m by varying the QD size.