Influence of laser-pulse shape and surface recombination on the photon generation rate in experiments on the dynamical casimir effect

We study the influence of laser-pulse shape and surface recombination on the photon generation rate in the so-called MIR experiment on the dynamical Casimir effect. Numerical calculations show that the surface recombination can be neglected at low (helium) temperatures and its influence on the photon recombination rate is rather small at higher (nitrogen) temperatures. It appears that long (tens of picoseconds) laser pulses could be preferable for semiconductors with very small (less than 10 ps) bulk recombination times. Moreover, for a given energy of laser pulses (exceeding some critical value), it is possible to find a pulse duration such that the photon generation rate becomes almost independent of the recombination time in a rather wide range of values (about 25 ps). These results can facilitate the performance of the experiment.     

Recombination coefficients in extrinsicn-InSb

The bulk recombination coefficients for linear recombination via recombination centers as well as for direct recombination have been determined measuring the conductivity decay after two-photon absorption with a CO₂ laser. The Suhl effect was applied to measure the surface recombination velocity. The corresponding literature is discussed and compared with our results. We conclude that two different kinds of recombination centers are possible inn-InSb, with energy levels (0.1–0.12) eV above the valence band, or (0.14–0.2) eV respectively.     

Secondary anti-stokes emission from the bulk of gallium phosphide at 4.2 K

Secondary radiation (photoluminescence and Raman scattering) emitted by gallium phosphide single crystals at helium temperatures is investigated. It is established for the first time that, in the case when the secondary emission spectra are excited by a cw low-power He-Ne laser, whose linewidth lies in the transparency region of GaP, anti-Stokes photoluminescence from the bulk of the sample occurs due to interband and impurity recombination. The results obtained make it possible to carry out a qualitative and quantitative analysis of impurities which are present in the bulk of a semiconductor by recording the bulk anti-Stokes photoluminescence spectra at low temperatures.     

Control of carrier lifetime in PbTe nipi-superlattices by external photoinjection

Photoexcitation of PbTe doping superlattices at different intensity levels can have a large influence on nonequilibrium carrier lifetime which in turn is determined both by PbTe bulk properties and details of the superlattice periodic potential. Such “tunability” in the recombination rate is examined theoretically in a model which considers details of carrier tunneling and thermal excitation in the superlattice as well as the role of Auger recombination as a decay channel at high densities. Good agreement is obtained with experimental studies of transient photoconductivity in which picosecond pulses from a Nd:YAG laser have been used to vary the effective lifetime from less than 2 nsec up to 10 usec. We also show how the presence of 300 K background radiation has an important influence on practical recombination rates.     

Solar cells with porous silicon: modification of surface-recombination velocity

Laser-induced transient-grating measurements were performed to monitor the influence of porous silicon on the surface recombination of a highly doped n⁺-silicon emitter of solar cells. With this technique, photocarrier diffusion and recombination with a time resolution of some tens of picoseconds can be studied. Using pulses of the second- and third-harmonic radiation from an Nd³⁺:YAG laser (quantum energy 2.34 and 3.51 eV, respectively), two different-depth regions of the emitter were excited. Using a kinetic model, which includes carrier diffusion and recombination at the surface and in the bulk of the emitter, surface-recombination velocities in a series of samples typical for each successive operation of solar-cell technology with different surface-doping level and surface preparation were evaluated. From the analysis, we conclude that porous silicon formed on the emitter passivates the surface of the silicon layer, i.e. reduces the rate of surface recombination at the porous silicon–crystalline silicon interface. Ytterbium as a co-dopant of the emitter increases the surface-recombination velocity. Received: 26 June 2000 / Accepted: 4 December 2000 / Published online: 26 April 2001     

双光子激发ZnSe自由载流子超快动力学研究

采用Z扫描和抽运-探测实验技术, 在波长为532 nm、脉冲宽度为41 fs的条件下测得ZnSe晶体的双光子吸收系数, 并获得了不同激发光强下的自由载流子吸收截面、电子-空穴带间复合时间和电子-声子耦合时间. 研究发现, 随着激发光强的增大, 自由载流子吸收截面减小, 复合时间变短. 当激发光强增大导致载流子浓度大于10¹⁸ cm^-3时, 抽运-探测信号出现明显改变, 原因归结为强光场激发导致样品在短时间内带隙变窄和电子-空穴等离子体的形成.     

Multiphoton route to ZnO nanowire lasers

With intense femtosecond laser excitation, multiphoton absorption-induced stimulated emission and laser emission in ZnO bulk crystal and nanowires have been demonstrated at room temperature. UV-stimulated emission peaks appeared in both bulk crystal and nanowires when the excitation exceeded certain thresholds, and a sharp lasing peak with a linewidth of ~0.5 nm was observed from ZnO nanowires. The emission properties were attributed to the band-edge emission of the recombination of carriers excited by two- and three-photon absorption processes in the wide-bandgap semiconductor.     

Laser-Excited Volume Secondary Radiation in Wide-Gap Semiconductors and Dielectrics

Studies of the volume secondary radiation (photoluminescence and Raman scattering) in wide-gap semiconductors (GaP, ZnSe) and condensed dielectrics were carried out at various temperatures. The low-temperature variations of the dielectric constants were evaluated. The anti-Stokes photoluminescence from the sample bulk, resulting from interband and impurity recombination, was observed for the first time when exciting the spectra of secondary radiation by the continuous radiation of a low-power helium--neon laser with the lasing line in the transparency region of gallium phosphide. A similar effect was observed at low temperatures in zinc selenide excited by an argon laser. Photoluminescence from the sample bulk was also found for a number of condensed dielectrics (hydrocarbons and oil) at room temperature. The results obtained allow analysis of impurities in the bulk of semiconductors and dielectrics based on recording the volume photoluminescence spectra.     

Linear and nonlinear optics,dynamics, and lasing in ZnO bulk and nanostructures

In linear optics, we report on measurements of the absolute external quantum efficiency of bulk ZnO and powders using an integrating sphere. At low temperature the near band edge emission efficiency can reach 0.15 in the best samples. For deep center luminescence this value may be even higher. When going to room temperature (RT) the quantum efficiency drops by about one order of magnitude. From time resolved luminescence measurements we deduce the lifetime of the free and bound excitons to be in the sub ns regime and find for the latter a systematic increase with increasing binding energy.Concerning lasing, we discuss the role of excitonic processes and the recombination in an inverted electron–hole plasma (EHP). While excitonic processes seem well justified at lower temperatures and densities, doubts arise concerning the concept of excitonic lasing at RT in ZnO. The densities at laser threshold at RT are frequently close to the Mott density or above but below the density at which population inversion in an EHP is reached. We suggest alternative processes which can explain stimulated emission in this density regime in an EHP at RT.     

Combined trap for laser stimulated recombination

We present a combined Paul-Penning trap to study CO₂ laser stimulated recombination of protons and electrons. The trap is located in the center of an optical resonator for 11 μm radiation. In this manner the available laser intensity is enhanced for stimulated recombination to the n=1 state of hydrogen. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Strong emission from nano-iron using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy technique

In this paper, we report a strong enhanced emission from laser produced plasma in air from iron oxide nano-material in comparison with the corresponding bulk samples. The enhancement strength differs with different Nd:YAG laser harmonics wavelengths. The analysis showed that such enhancement increased exponentially with the plasma evolution time, while it declines as the laser fluence increased. Experimental data analysis clearly showed that the observed enhancement is mainly associated with the change in the plasma electron density. We claim that this strong enhanced optical emission from laser produced plasma is due to the surface plasmon resonant excitation preferably on nano-oxide materials. Such experimental findings could improve the laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy sensitivity down to extremely low concentrations.     

A physics-based analytical model for bulk heterojunction organic solar cells incorporating monomolecular recombination mechanism

We present an analytical model for bulk heterojunction organic solar cells incorporating the physics of recombination in the transport equations. Monomolecular recombination process is considered to be the dominant mechanism and treated explicitly. The proposed analytical model shows good agreement with the experimental data as well as with the numerical simulations. The improvements over the previous models are also presented to show the importance of considering the recombination process. The model can be used to find device characteristics such as current–voltage characteristic, efficiency etc. of bulk heterojunction organic solar cells avoiding the mathematical complexities of numerical models.     

Nongeminate recombination in organic bulk heterojunction solar cells: Contribution of exciton–polaron interaction

A new model to explain nongeminate recombination in organic bulk heterojunction solar cells is presented. We suggest that the annihilation of excitons on charge carriers at the interface between donor and acceptor phases competes with the bimolecular recombination of Coulombically bound electron–hole pairs. The exciton–polaron interaction gives visible contribution to the reduction of Langevin recombination. An analytical formula, which describes the reduction prefactor, has been derived. We demonstrate that exciton–charge carrier interactions cause an increase of the recombination order. (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Magnetophotoconductivity of semi-insulating GaAs as a function of etching time

The magnetophotoconductivity of semi-insulating GaAs has been investigated for various etching times. We observed that the carrier lifetime of the illuminated region increases as a function of etching time approaching the bulk lifetime of the non-illuminated region. This was explained on the suggestion that the surface recombination centers gradually disappear as the etching time increases.     

纳米结构ZnO晶体薄膜室温紫外激光发射

文章综述了纳米结构的氧化锌半导体薄膜在室温下自由激子的自发辐射以及由自由激子引起的受激发射的特性，阐述了在不同激发密度下室温紫外受激发射的机理．纳米结构氧化锌半导体薄膜是用激光分子束外延(L-MBE)技术生长在蓝宝石衬底上的．薄膜由密集而规则排列的纳米尺度的六角柱组成．这些纳米六角柱起着限制激子运动的作用，激子的量子尺寸效应，使激子的跃迁振子强度大幅度增强．同时六角柱之间的晶面组成了一个天然的激光谐振腔．室温下用三倍频的YAG脉冲激光激发，可从这些纳米结构的氧化锌薄膜中观测到很强的紫外激光发射．研究发现，在中等激发密度下，紫外受激发射是由于激子与激子间碰撞而引起的辐射复合．在高密度激发条件下，由于激子趋于离化，紫外受激发射主要由电子-空穴等离子体的辐射复合引起．由于纳米结构中激子的跃迁振子增强效应，在室温下测量到的光学增益高达320cm^-1，这比在同样条件下测量到的块状氧化锌晶体的光学增益要高一个量级以上．与传统的电子-空穴等离子体激光辐射相比，激子引起的受激发射可在较低的激发密度条件下实现．这在实际应用上很有价值．     

Cooling of semiconductors by laser radiation

The optimum intensity of laser radiation and the lowest attainable temperature of the sample to be cooled are estimated on the basis of a model that takes into account radiative and nonradiative recombination of charge carriers, absorption of radiation due to band-to-band transitions and by free charge carriers, reabsorption of spontaneously emitted photons in the bulk of the sample, and saturation of the absorption coefficient.     

Bistable optically controlled semiconductor switches in afrequency-agile RF source

The processes of persistent photoconductivity followed by photoquenching have been demonstrated at megawatt power levels in copper-compensated, silicon-doped, semi-insulating gallium arsenide. These processes allow a photoconductive switch to be developed that can be closed by the application of one laser pulse (λ=1.06 μm) and opened by the application of a second laser pulse with a wavelength equal to twice that of the first laser (λ=2.13 μm). This switch is called the bistable optically controlled semiconductor switch (BOSS). The opening phase of the BOSS requires a sufficient concentration of recombination centers (RC) in the material for opening to occur in the subnanosecond regime. These RC's are generated in the bulk GaAs material by fast-neutron irradiation (~1 MeV). Neutron-irradiated BOSS devices have been opened against a rising average electric field of about 36 kV/cm (18 kV) in a time less than 1 ns while operating at a repetition rate, within a two-pulse burst, of about 1 GHz. The ability to modify the frequency content of the electrical pulses, by varying the time separation, is demonstrated. Results demonstrating the operation of two BOSS devices imbedded in a frequency-agile RF source configuration are also discussed     

Numerical study of performance characteristics of deep violet InGaN DQW laser diodes with AlInGaN quaternary multi quantum barrier electron blocking layer

The performance characteristics of deep violet In_0.082Ga_0.918N/GaN double quantum well (DQW) laser diodes (LDs) with different electron blocking layer (EBL) including a ternary AlGaN bulk EBL, a quaternary AlInGaN bulk EBL and ternary AlGaN multi quantum barrier (MQB) EBL has been numerically investigated. Inspired by the abovementioned structures, a new LD structure with a quaternary AlInGaN MQB EBL has been proposed to improve the performance characteristics of the deep violet InGaN DQW LDs. Simulation results indicated that the LD structure with the quaternary AlInGaN MQB EBL present the highest output power, slope efficiency and differential quantum efficiency (DQE) and lowest threshold current compared with the above mentioned structures. They also indicated that choosing an appropriate aluminum (Al) and indium (In) composition in the quaternary AlInGaN MQB layers could control both piezoelectric and spontaneous polarizations. It will decrease the electron overflow from the active region to p-side and increased the contribution of electron and hole carriers to the radiative recombination effectively. Enhancing radiative recombination in the well using the quaternary AlInGaN MQB EBL also increased the optical output power and optical intensity.     

Ultrafast laser-driven magnetic-switching scenario in NiO: Role of phonons

We present a fully ab initio ultrafast magnetooptical-switching mechanism in NiO. After obtaining all intragap d-character states of the bulk and the (001) surface with the use of highly correlational quantum chemistry we propagate in time under the influence of a static magnetic field and a laser pulse. We find that switching can be best achieved in a subpicosecond regime with linearly polarized light. The electric-dipole approximation suffices for the surface, however, for the centrosymmetric bulk the presence of an optical phonon is used as a symmetry-lowering mechanism. Lattice (contrary to electronic) temperature is found to enhance the process.     

Spectroscopic investigations of femtosecond laser irradiated polystyrene and fabrication of microstructures

We report microfabrication of structures in bulk and thin films of polystyrene (PS) using femtosecond (fs) laser pulses. For the first time to our knowledge, we report emission from the fs laser modified regions of bulk and thin films of PS when excited at 458, 488, and 514 nm. Moreover, we report the existence of peroxide type free radicals, for the first time, in fs laser irradiated bulk PS. We observed the suppression of Raman modes in case of structures fabricated at higher energies and the same effect was noticed in central portion of the structures fabricated. No appreciable broadening was observed in the case of structures fabricated at low energies. Possible applications resulting from such structures are discussed briefly.