Spectroscopy of 1.55 μm PbS Quantum Dots on Si Photonic Crystal Cavities with a Fiber Taper Waveguide

We use an optical fiber taper waveguide to probe PbS quantum dots (QDs) dried on Si photonic crystal cavities near 1.55 $\mu$m. We demonstrate that a low density ($\lesssim 100 \mu$m$^{-2}$) of QDs does not significantly degrade cavity quality factors as high as $\approx3\times10^4$. We also show that the tapered fiber can be used to excite the QDs and collect the subsequent cavity-filtered photoluminescence, and present measurements of reversible photodarkening and QD saturation. This method represents an important step towards spectroscopy of single colloidal QDs in the telecommunications band.