SBIR Phase I: Fabrication of Nanocrystal-Based Thin Film Optical Filter

本项目是以半导体纳米晶体和贵金属纳米棒为吸收材料，研制一系列光学边缘和带通薄膜滤光片。基于纳米晶体的薄膜滤光器的运行将依赖于半导体和贵金属纳米晶体的独特特征，即依赖于尺寸的吸收。半导体纳米晶是相应块状材料的纳米级碎片；其中大多数现在可以使用基于溶液的技术来合成和加工。尺寸相关的吸收和发射是半导体纳米晶体最吸引人的特点。金纳米棒是另一种类型的吸收材料，将在这个项目中使用。据预测，金纳米棒的纵向吸收可以达到微波或近红外范围，薄膜滤光片具有巨大的商业潜力，在军事和民用方面都有广泛的应用。几乎所有的光学设备都涉及到薄膜滤光片。该项目产生的薄膜滤光片覆盖了非常宽的波长范围，在军用和民用光学设备中都具有巨大的潜力。

This NSF SBIR Phase I project is to develop a series of optical edge and band-pass thin film filters using semiconductor nano-crystals and noble metal nano-rod as the absorption materials. The nanocrystal-based thin film filters would rely for their operation on the unique feature, size dependent absorption, of semiconductor and noble metal nanocrystals. Semiconductor nanocrystals are nanometer-sized fragments of the corresponding bulk materials; most of them can now be synthesized and processed using solution-based techniques. The size-dependent absorption and emission is the most attractive feature of semiconductor nanocrystals. Gold nanorod is another type absorption material that will be used in this project. It has been predicted that the longitudinal absorption of the gold nanorod could reach microwave or near infrared range.The thin film optical filters are of great commercial potential with a wide variety of applications in both military and civilian purposes. Thin film filters have been involved in almost all optical devices. Covering a very broad range of wavelength of light, the thin film filters resulting from this project will have great potential to be utilized in both military and civilian optical devices.