Here, the first account of self-resonant fully colloidal μ-lasers made from colloidal quantum well (CQW) solution is reported. A deep patterning technique is developed to fabricate well-defined high aspect-ratio on-chip CQW resonators made of grating waveguides and in-plane reflectors. The fabricated waveguide-coupled laser, enabling tight optical confinement, assures in-plane lasing. CQWs of the patterned layers are closedpacked with sharp edges and residual-free lifted-off surfaces. Additionally, the method is successfully applied to various nanoparticles including colloidal quantum dots and metal nanoparticles. It is observed that the patterning process does not affect the nanocrystals (NCs) immobilized in the attained patterns and the different physical and chemical properties of the NCs remain pristine. Thanks to the deep patterning capability of the proposed method, patterns of NCs with subwavelength lateral feature sizes and micron-scale heights can possibly be fabricated in high aspect ratios.

Silicon is the most prevalent material system for light‐harvesting applications; however, its inherent indirect bandgap and consequent weak absorption limits its potential in optoelectronics. This paper proposes to address this limitation by combining the sensitization of silicon with extraordinarily large absorption cross sections of quasi‐2D colloidal quantum well nanoplatelets (NPLs) and to demonstrate excitation transfer from these NPLs to bulk silicon. Here, the distance dependency, d, of the resulting Förster resonant energy transfer from the NPL monolayer into a silicon substrate is systematically studied by tuning the thickness of a spacer layer (of Al2O3) in between them (varied from 1 to 50 nm in thickness). A slowly varying distance dependence of d−1 with 25% efficiency at a donor–acceptor distance of 20 nm is observed. These results are corroborated with full electromagnetic solutions, which show that the inverse distance relationship emanates from the delocalized electric field intensity across both the NPL layer and the silicon because of the excitation of strong in‐plane dipoles in the NPL monolayer. These findings pave the way for using colloidal NPLs as strong light‐harvesting donors in combination with crystalline silicon as an acceptor medium for application in photovoltaic devices and other optoelectronic platforms.

Avogadro constant determines the number of particles in one mole of a substance, thus relating the molar mass of the substance to the mass of this substance. Avogadro constant is related to Système Internationale base units by defining the very concept of chemical quantity. Revisions of the base units created a need to redefine the Avogadro constant, where a collaborative work called the Avogadro Project is established to employ optical interferometry to measure the diameter of high quality 100 mm silicon spheres. We propose far-infrared spectroscopy for determining the Avogadro constant by using elastic scattering from the 100 mm Avogadro Project silicon spheres. Similar spectroscopic methods are already in use in the near-infrared, relating whispering gallery modes of the 1 mm silicon spheres to the diameter of the spheres. We present numerical simulations in the far-infrared and the near-infrared, as well as spatially scaled down elastic scattering measurements in the near-infrared. These numerical and experimental results show that, the diameter measurements of 100 mm single crystal silicon spheres with elastic scattering in the far-infrared can be considered as an alternative to optical interferometry.

The transverse spatial intensity distribution of elastic and inelastic light scattering in passive and active as well as weak and strong scattering liquid media has been studied by using Sphelar One p-n junction silicon spherical photocells. We immersed a Sphelar One in these scattering solutions and measured the photoconductive response in reverse biased photodiode (PD) configuration. The passive weak scattering medium was pure ethanol (EtOH), whereas the passive strong scattering medium was 5CB nematic liquid crystal (NLC). Solutions of 0.1 mM Rhodamine 640 perchlorate laser dye in EtOH and in 5CB NLC were used as active scattering media. The response of Sphelar One was strongly enhanced in 5CB NLC compared to EtOH, as well as in active solutions compared to passive solutions. The morphology of the Sphelar One is already advantageous over conventional one-sided planar PDs inside liquid solutions. This omnidirectional response of the Sphelar One can further be enhanced by optimizing the properties of the surrounding passive elastic and active inelastic scatterers.