Tuning the band gap of PbSe quantum dots in glasses by TiO doping.

Titanium monoxide (TiO) was added to host glass, which was heat-treated at 520 °C for 10 h to incorporate Ti into PbSe quantum dots (QDs) to control their band gaps. Incorporation of Ti ions into PbSe QDs was confirmed using electron energy loss spectroscopy analysis. Addition of TiO caused blue-shift of the absorption and photoluminescence (PL) bands of the QDs. Absorption bands moved from 1621 nm at TiO concentration [TiO] = 0.0% to 1418 nm at [TiO] = 0.4 mol%. Average diameters of QDs remained mostly unaffected (i.e., 6.25 ± 0.14 nm at [TiO] = 0.0% to 6.03 ± 0.1 nm at [TiO] = 0.4 mol%). The changes in absorption and PL bands originated from the incorporation of Ti ions into PbSe QDs. Band gaps of PbSe QDs increased from 0.76 eV at [TiO] = 0% to 0.88 eV at [TiO] = 0.4 mol%. This simple method to tune the band gap of PbSe QDs has possible applications in optical communication fiber amplifiers, infrared laser sources and saturable absorbers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]