Continuous near-infrared-to-ultraviolet lasing from II-VI nanoribbons

The authors show that II-VI nanoribbons are capable of room-temperature lasing covering the complete spectral range from near infrared (NIR) to ultraviolet (UV). This is accomplished by simply using nanoribbons of two ternary compositions, namely, Cd SX Se1-X and ZnY Cd1-Y S. Under optical pumping, Cd SX Se1-X nanoribbons lase from NIR (710 nm) to green (510 nm) as X changes from 0 to 1, while ZnY Cd1-Y S nanoribbons lase from green (510 nm) to UV (340 nm) as Y varies from 0 to 1. Furthermore, lasing control shows fine-tuning via composition changes that overlap thermally induced tuning. This demonstrates that II-VI materials can enable lasing at any selected wavelength between 710 and 340 nm with continuous tuning capabilities. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.