Imaging of thermal sources is typically done using materials absorbing light in the 3-5 microns such as InSb and 8-12 microns such as Hg1-xCdxTe. The present technology is very expensive due to the cost of the imaging chips, and it requires significant electrical power to cool the chips. Infrared cameras are therefore typically restricted to military and research applications. Over the past few years, my group investigated Hg (S, Se, Te) colloidal quantum dots (CQD) with the goal of creating a low cost mid-IR technology. Progress towards the manufacture of mid-infrared cameras, improved sensitivity, and higher operating temperature will be presented. The challenging goal also motivates us to understand topics of broader interest with CQDs rooted in interfacial chemistry and quantum confinement, such as the nature of doping, the mechanisms for energy relaxations, Auger processes, the role of disorder, the coupling between particles and the resulting electronic properties. One of our most exciting scientific results is the serendipitous discovery of ambient doping in HgS and HgSe CQDs which led to the first CQD mid-IR photodetectors based on intraband transitions.


Seminar, April 19, 2017, 15:00. Seminar Room

Hosted by Prof. Gerasimos Konstantatos