Optical quenching of photoconductivity in CdSe single nanowires via waveguiding excitation

We demonstrate broadband optical quenching of photoconductivity in CdSe single nanowires with low excitation power. Using 1550-nm-wavelength light with 10-nW power for waveguiding excitation, we observe a typical responsivity of 0.5 A/W for quenching the photoconductivity established by 10-mu W 660-nm-wavelength background light in a 403-nm-diameter CdSe nanowire, with detectable limit of the quenching power down to pW level at room temperature, which is several orders of magnitude lower than those reported previously. This large quenching effect originates from the enhanced light-defect interaction in the nanowires via waveguiding excitation. These results open new opportunities for noninvasive characterization of deep-level defect states in low-dimensional semiconductor nanomaterials, and novel optoelectronic applications of semiconductor nanowires such as high-sensitive broadband photodetection. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America