Continuous Alloy-Composition Spatial Grading and Superbroad Wavelength-Tunable Nanowire Lasers on a Single Chip

By controlling local substrate temperature in a chemical vapor deposition system, we have successfully achieved spatial composition grading covering the complete composition range of ternary alloy CdSSe nanowires on a single substrate of 1.2 cm in length. Spatial photoluminescence scan along the substrate length shows peak wavelength changes continuously from similar to 500 to similar to 700 nm. Furthermore, we show that under strong optical pumping, every spot along the substrate length displays lasing behavior. Thus our nanowire chip provides a spatially continuously tunable laser with a superbroad wavelength tuning range, unmatched by any other available semiconductor-based technology.