Coherence properties of the photoluminescence from CdS–ZnO nanocomposite thin films

The application of semiconductor quantum dots in important new areas such as random lasing and quantum-information processing requires knowledge of the coherence of the optical emission from such systems. We report the first direct experimental estimation of the coherence in the light emitted by a nanoparticle ensemble. The photoluminescence from a two-phase nanocomposite CdS-ZnO thin film (with a characteristic grain size of 2-3 nm for both the chemical phases) possesses an appreciable degree of spatial and temporal coherence at room temperature. The degree of spatial coherence was estimated from the classical Young's double slit experiment. We also discuss a simple technique for estimating the degree of spectral coherence of the photoluminescence from thin films.