Optical gain in monodispersed silicon nanocrystals

The positive optical gain under pulsed excitation in silicon-monodispersed- nanocrystals waveguides were demonstrated. They were grown via evaporation and crystallization driven by high temperature annealing. The small sized dispersion of silicon nanocrystals explained the large material gain and the presence of power broadening of luminescence. The optical gain was found to be correlated with waveguide structure, high damage threshold under ultraviolet irradiation and the monodispersive nature of good sized silicon nanocrystals.