Improved light emitting UV curable PbS quantum dots-polymer composite optical waveguides

•Synthesized refractive index controllable UV curable polymer.•Synthesized three kinds of PbS quantum dots (QDs).•PbS QDs dissolved well in our synthesized polymer.•Realized multi-mode PbS QDs embedded light emitting optical waveguides by VAM.•Fabricated single mode PbS QDs waveguide by VAM with sectional flow tapers.

We present for the first-time light emitting ultraviolet (UV) curable active PbS quantum dots-polymer composite optical waveguides fabricated by vacuum assisted microfluidic (VAM) soft lithography technique. PbS quantum dots were synthesized by colloidal chemistry methods with tunable sizes resulting in light emissions in near infrared wavelengths. UV curable polymer of selective refractive index were synthesized facilitating waveguide mode confinement and good PbS quantum dots solubility. Photoluminescence of the composite exhibited ∼30 times better brightness than PbS-SU-8 composites. Light emitting multi-mode waveguides of about 50×42μm cross-sectional dimension were successful demonstrated. Light emitting single-mode waveguides were fabricated by VAM technique with sectional flow tapers.