N. G. Semaltianos, S. Logothetidis, W. Perrie, S. Romani, R. J. Potter, M. Sharp,
P. French, G. Dearden and K. G. Watkins

Nanoparticles of the II–VI semiconductor CdSe were synthesized by laser ablation (387 nm, 180 fs, 1 kHz, pulse energy = 4 μJ (fluence =1 J/cm2)) of the target material in methanol. The nanoparticles size distribution follows a log-normal function with statistical median diameter in the range of ≈ 5–6 nm. Their crystalline structure is the same as that of the bulk material and are Se rich (Cd : Se percentage ratio ~ 0.8 : 1). Strong, spectrally “clean” and relatively narrow photoluminescence emission from the produced nanoparticles was detected in the green (~ 552 nm).