Nanowire photonics and their applications

Nanostructures have enabled numerous novel and multifunctional devices with impact in many areas of science and technology [1–33]. Precise synthetic control of nanomaterial parameters, including chemical composition, size, and morphology, is key to eliciting unique device properties and thus applications [1–11,25–33]. Semiconductor nanowires are particularly attractive building blocks for integrated nanosystems because they can function as both device elements and interconnects [1–11,29,33]. This concept has been demonstrated in nanoelectronics with the assembly of devices such as field-effect transistors and integrated nanowire logic gates [8–11] and in nanophotonics with the assembly of individual light-emitting diodes and laser diodes [4–7,29,33].