Fabrication and optical waveguide of Sn-catalyzed CdSe microstructures

•Different CdSe microstructures were grown by a simple Sn-catalyzed thermal evaporation method.•Morphological, structural and optical characterizations are studied.•Growth mechanisms for the formation of CdSe microstructures are proposed.•Influence factors on the optical waveguide performance are investigated.

Quasi-one-dimensional CdSe microstructures, including branched, needle-like and uniform microwires, have been successfully synthesized via a Sn-catalyzed thermal evaporation method. Possible growth mechanisms of these different CdSe microstructures are proposed. The optical properties of different CdSe microstructures were studied by the confocal optical microscope and obvious optical waveguide observed in the uniform microwire. The results indicate that efficient optical resonant cavities, dark excitons orientation not along the c axis and high crystallinity play a crucial role in optical waveguide performance of microstructure CdSe.