Amplified spontaneous emission from core and shell transitions in CdSe/CdS nanorods fabricated by seeded growth

We studied the optical properties of core-shell CdSe/CdS nanorods with various lengths and core diameters that were fabricated by wet chemical synthesis using the seeded growth method. We investigated the optical emission from thin films consisting of dense nanorod arrays, where we observed amplified spontaneous emission from states related either to the CdSe core or to the CdS shell depending on the nanorod's length. The optical gain of the nanorods was studied by transient absorption experiments and we found optical gain for the core and shell states of short rods, whereas for long rods, the optical gain of the core was quenched by defect states and we observed optical gain solely from the states of the shell material. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3549298]