The tailored spatial polarization of coherent light beams is important for applications ranging from microscopy to biophysics to quantum optics. Miniaturized light sources are needed for integrated, on-chip photonic devices with desired vector beams; however, this issue is unresolved because most lasers rely on bulky optical elements to achieve such polarization control. We developed quantum dot-plasmon lasers with engineered polarization patterns controllable by near-field coupling of colloidal quantum dots to metal nanoparticles. Conformal coating of CdSe–CdS core–shell quantum dot films on Ag nanoparticle lattices enables the formation of hybrid waveguide-surface lattice resonance. The sidebands of these hybrid modes at nonzero wavevectors facilitate directional lasing emission with either radial or azimuthal polarization depending on the thickness of the quantum dot film.
