ABSTRACT
Over the past two decades, there have been extensive studies on the optical properties of semiconductor nanomaterials from the fundamental physics viewpoint and from the interest in the application to functional devices, because they exhibit unique size-dependent quantum properties [1-11]. In this chapter, we discuss optical properties of semiconductor nanomaterials of zero-dimensional (0D) nanoparticle quantum dots and one-dimensional (1D) carbon nanotubes. In optical studies of nanoparticle quantum dots and carbon nanotubes, we would like to point out two important reports opening new active œelds: the discovery of room-temperature-visible luminescence from porous silicon in 1990 [12] and the discovery of eµcient luminescence from isolated carbon nanotubes in 2002 [13]. ›ese observations of eµcient luminescence clearly show that nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes are high-quality crystalline semiconductors. Many di˜erent fabrication methods have been developed to obtain stable and eµcient luminescence from nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes, e.g., core/shell nanoparticles, suspended isolated nanotubes, and so on [14-20]. ›ese nanomaterials become new materials for optoelectronic devices such as wavelength-tunable light-emitting diodes and lasers, quantum light sources, and solar cell applications.
