Hybrid nanocomposite thin films, composed of inorganic colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) embedded in a matrix of organic conjugated polymer, have shown promise as a method for room-temperature infrared detection due to the three-dimensional confinement of the CQD and significantly lower dark currents compared to inorganic detectors. However, in order to improve device performance, the excited charges must be efficiently promoted out of the CQD, which is surrounded by an insulating surface ligand. These short, organic molecules, which are required to prevent agglomeration of CQDs in solution, have been shown to inhibit charge transfer into and out of the CQD. In this work, the transfer matrix method is utilized to calculate the quantized energy levels and wavefunctions in the conduction band of the CdSe CQD for a variety of surface ligand materials. These results are used to calculate the absorption coefficient for a size distribution of CQDs and are compared with measured Fourier Transform Infrared absorbance spectra. Finally, the effect of the ligand on the calculated absorption coefficient will be used to optimize the design for an infrared photoconductor. © 2012 World Scientific Publishing Company.