Plasmaresonanzemission und Plasmaresonanzabsorption an dünnen Kaliumschichten

Optical transmission and emission spectra in the region of the plasma frequencyω _p were measured on thin potassium films evaporated on sapphire substrates of various temperatures. For the foils condensed at a temperatures of the substrateT _a T _a >?165 °C transmission spectra were observed which transmission minima are displaced to frequencies less thanω _p . Plasma resonance emission was observed from these foils. Comparison with calculated emission spectra gives an approximate agreement.     

Tunneling radiative recombination in <Emphasis Type="Italic">p-n</Emphasis> heterostructures based on gallium nitride and other A<Superscript>III</Superscript>B<Superscript>V</Superscript> semiconductor compounds

We present summarized data on the tunneling emission in p-n heterostructures based on GaN and on a series of cubic A^IIIB^V semiconductors, including GaAs, InP, GaSb, and (Ga, In)Sb. The emission in p-n heterostructures of the InGaN/AlGaN/GaN type in a spectral interval from 1.9 to 2.7 eV predominates at small currents (J<0.2 mA). The position of maximum ?ω_max in the spectrum approximately corresponds to the applied potential difference U:?ω_max=eU. The tunneling emission is related to a high electric field strength in GaN-based heterostructures. The radiative recombination probability is higher in the structures with piezoelectric fields. The observed spectra are compared to the spectra of tunneling emission from light-emitting diodes based on GaAs, InP, and GaSb. The experimental results for various semiconductors emitting in a broad energy range (0.5–2.7 eV) are described by the equation ?ω_max=eU=0.5–2.7 eV.     

VUV spectroscopy of Ce<Superscript>3+</Superscript>-doped Na<Subscript>0.4</Subscript>Lu<Subscript>0.6</Subscript>F<Subscript>2.2</Subscript> single crystals

The short-wave transmission spectrum of Na_0.4Lu_0.6F_2.2 with the visible/ultraviolet transmission edge of 8 eV was studied. Absorption spectra of the 4f—5d transitions of the Ce³⁺ ion in the region of 4–8 eV were studied in Ce³⁺-doped Na_0.4Lu_0.6F_2.2 single crystals. Luminescence spectra in the ultraviolet and visible spectral regions, luminescence decay kinetics and reflection and luminescence excitation spectra in the visible/ultraviolet and ultraviolet regions (4–20 eV) were investigated at helium and room temperatures.     

Femtosecond spectroscopy of relaxation processes in metals and high-T c superconductors

Spectral dependences of charge carrier relaxation rates, γ _e-e (?ω) and γ _e-ph (?ω), were observed in Au and Cu films and YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ high-T _c superconductor films. The relaxation rates decreased substantially in the spectral region corresponding to interband transitions to the Fermi level region (?ω_Au = 2.45 eV, ?ω_Cu = 2.15 eV, and ? ω₁ = 1.89 eV and ?ω₂ = 2.08 eV for YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ). This relaxation deceleration opens up possibilities for developing a new method, based on the spectral dependences of relaxation rates, for the determination of the Fermi level position and the parameters of electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions on the one hand and for studying deviations from the Fermi-liquid behavior in strongly correlated electronic systems. The linear γ _e-e (?ω) ∝ |?ω? E _F| spectral dependence was observed for a YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ film near ?ω₂ = 2.08 eV, which may be evidence of a non-Fermi-liquid behavior of the electronic subsystem.     

Measurements of double differential cross sections in electron impact ionization of helium and argon

Double differential cross sections (angular distributions and energy loss spectra) have been measured of electrons after ionizing electron collisions with helium at primary energiesE ₀ between 25 eV and about 260 eV and with argon atE ₀=75, 150 and 200 eV. The spectra have been measured with an energy analyzing collector system of constant transmission. It was found that for high collision energies (E ₀≧ 80 eV) the outgoing electrons belong to one of the two energetically well separated groups, either thefast electrons, which are scattered mainly in forward direction or theslow electrons which are distributed isotropically into all angles. At low primary energiesE ₀ no separation into groups is possible. Several findings indicate the qualitative applicability of the binary collision model.     

Luminescent properties of the oxygen impurity centres in A1N

Emission luminescence spectra of A1N with oxygen impurity are composed of several overlapping bands ranging from 2.37 eV to 3.51 eV. The intensity of these bands depends on the excitation conditions. The Stokes shift of corresponding excitation bands is ～0.93 eV; this shift is compatible with the experimental half-width of individual bandsΘ ～ 0.46 eV. The observed complex spectra are ascribed to the excitation and recombination processes in D-A complexes formed of substitutional oxygen donors O_N and aluminum vacancies V _Al . Tentative models of these centers are proposed.     

Retardation of the relaxation over quantum-well energy levels in CdSe/ZnS quantum dots with increasing number of excited carriers

The differential transmission spectra of CdSe/ZnS quantum dots are investigated. It is revealed that the differential transmission spectra measured upon resonant excitation of electrons into the first excited state 1P(e) exhibit a number of specific features, such as a decrease in transmission at the pump frequency, bleaching in the course of the pump pulse at frequencies corresponding to the fundamental optical transition 1S _3/2(h)-1S(e) and transitions between excited hole states and the 1S(e) electron ground state, and retardation of this process with an increase in the energy of the pump pulse. The observed specific features can be explained by the following factors: (i) the absence of a “phonon bottleneck” for electrons due to the energy transfer from hot electrons to rapidly relaxing holes, (ii) relaxation through intermediate quantum-well energy levels of holes, and (iii) retardation of relaxation with increasing number of excited charge carriers in a quantum dot.     

Quantum size effect in the photoemission intensity emitted from thin metal films

Photoemission spectra are calculated for thin films of Ag on Au(111) using the method of Green's function matching. For very low photon energies (ω ≲ 10 eV) the peak intensities of the thin film states oscillate with the film thickness. These oscillations are caused by the relaxation of the k_⊥-conservation of the optical excitation in photoemission.     

Stimulated two-photon emission from excitonic molecules in ZnO

The M-band emission in ZnO at 1.7 K is investigated by tuning the excitation light through the A-B exciton region. Externally stimulated two-photon emission from excitonic molecules is observed when the pump photon energy is resonant with the upper B-polariton. The experiments suggest two excitonic molecule levels separated by 4.6 meV and with a ground state energy E_M = 6.7394 eV.     

Half-Integer Harmonics Generation in Laser-Produced Plasma

Half integer (3/2ω₀, 1/2ω₀) harmonics generation under oblique incidence of the pump-wave on the spatially inhomogeneous plasma is theoretically investigated. Harmonics generation is connected with the two-plasmon convective instability excitation near the quarter-critical density. Harmonics spectra and intensities depend essentially on the pump wave polarization. In particular, significant harmonics spectra broadening arises under the p-polarized pump wave.     

Comparison of light rare earths N4,5-level soft X-ray and auger electron appearance-potential spectra

Appearance-potential Spectroscopy (APS) probes the binding energy of core levels and local conduction band states of atoms in the surface region. Soft X-ray APS (SXAPS) and Auger electron APS (AEAPS), respectively, measure the differential X-ray fluorescence and secondary electron yields as a function of incident electron energy. We have obtained the N_4,5-level SXAPS and AEAPS spectra of La, Ce, Pr, Nd and Sm metals. Both spectra exhibit multiplet structure below the expected 4d excitation threshold and a broad, 10–20 eV wide peak above the threshold followed by small peaks of decreasing intensity. The data are used to gain an understanding of the decay mechanism following the excitation of the core levels in these spectroscopies. The strong similarity observed between the SXAPS and AEAPS indicates that the characteristic emission and not the bremsstrahlung dominates the spectral lineshape in APS.     

“Negative” gap in the spectrum of localized states of (In<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript>)<Subscript>0.9</Subscript>(SrO)<Subscript>0.1</Subscript>

The reflection R(?ω), transmission t(?ω), absorption α(?ω), and refraction n(?ω) spectra of polycrystalline In₂O₃–SrO samples with low optical transparency, which contain In₂O₃ and In₂SrO₄ crystallites with In₄SrO_{6 + δ} interlayers, are examined. In the region of small ?ω values, the reflection coefficient decreases as the resistance of samples saturated with oxygen increases. Spectral dependences n(?ω) and α(?ω) are calculated using the classical electrodynamics relations. The results are compared to the data based on the t(?ω) spectra. The calculated absorption spectra are interpreted within the model with an overlap of tails of the density of states in the valence band and in the conduction band. A “negative” gap E _gn in the density of states with a width from–0.12 to–0.47 eV is formed in highly disordered samples in this model. It is demonstrated that the high density of defects and the band of deep acceptor states of strontium in the major matrix In₂O₃ phase are crucial to tailing of the absorption edge and its shift toward lower energies. The direct gap E _gd = 1.3 eV corresponding to the In₂SrO₄ phase is determined. The energy band diagram and the contribution of tunneling, which reduces the threshold energy for interband optical transitions, are discussed.     

The influence of ultra-fast temporal energy regulation on the morphology of Si surfaces through femtosecond double pulse laser irradiation

The effect of ultra-short laser-induced morphological changes upon irradiation of silicon with double pulse sequences is investigated under conditions that lead to mass removal. The temporal delay between 12 double and equal-energy pulses (E _p=0.24 J/cm² each, with pulse duration t _p=430 fs, 800 nm laser wavelength) was varied between 0 and 14 ps and a decrease of the damaged area, crater depth size and periodicity of the induced subwavelength ripples (by 3–4 %) was observed with increasing pulse delay. The proposed underlying mechanism is based on the combination of carrier excitation and energy thermalization and capillary wave solidification and aims to provide an alternative explanation of the control of ripple periodicity by temporal pulse tailoring. This work demonstrates the potential of pulse shaping technology to improve ultra-fast laser-assisted micro/nanoprocessing.     

Electronic excitations and luminescence of SrMgF4 single crystals

The electronic and crystal structures of SrMgF₄ single crystals grown by the Bridgman method have been investigated. The undoped SrMgF₄ single crystals have been studied using low-temperature (T = 10 K) time-resolved fluorescence optical and vacuum ultraviolet spectroscopy under selective excitation by synchrotron radiation (3.7–36.0 eV). Based on the measured reflectivity spectra and calculated spectra of the optical constants, the following parameters of the electronic structure have been determined for the first time: the minimum energy of interband transitions E _g = 12.55 eV, the position of the first exciton peak E _n = 1 = 11.37 eV, the position of the maximum of the “exciton” luminescence excitation band at 10.7 eV, and the position of the fundamental absorption edge at 10.3 eV. It has been found that photoluminescence excitation occurs predominantly in the region of the low-energy fundamental absorption edge of the crystal and that, at energies above E _g , the energy transfer from the matrix to luminescence centers is inefficient. The exciton migration is the main excitation channel of photoluminescence bands at 2.6–3.3 and 3.3–4.2 eV. The direct photoexcitation is characteristic of photoluminescence from defects at 1.8–2.6 and 4.2–5.5 eV.     

The effect of a weak magnetic field on the mobility of dislocations in silicon

The magnetoplastic effect in dislocation silicon is discovered. It is shown that in the presence of tensile stresses (up to 20 MPa), the mechanically activated path of surface dislocation half-loops is limited mainly by the dynamics of defects in various slip systems relative to the applied load. The activation barriers for the motion of dislocations controlled by various conditions in the temperature range T=850–950 K are E _aF=2.1±0.1 eV and E _aS=1.8±0.1 eV. An increase in the path of surface dislocation half-loops and a change in the activation barriers are detected (E _aF=1.4±0.1 eV and E _aS=1.6±0.1 eV) after subjecting silicon to a magnetic field (B=0.7 T) for 30 min. Possible reasons behind the observed effects are discussed.     

Light-induced ultrafast phase transitions in VO2 thin film

Vanadium dioxide shows a passive and reversible change from a monoclinic insulator phase to a metallic tetragonal rutile structure when the sample temperature is close to and over 68 °C. As a kind of functional material, VO₂ thin films deposited on fused quartz substrates were successfully prepared by the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. With laser illumination at 400 nm on the obtained films, the phase transition (PT) occurred. The observed light-induced PT was as fast as the laser pulse duration of 100 fs. Using a femtosecond laser system, the relaxation processes in VO₂ were studied by optical pump-probe spectroscopy. Upon a laser excitation an instantaneous response in the transient reflectivity and transmission was observed followed by a relatively longer relaxation process. The alteration is dependent on pump power. The change in reflectance reached a maximum value at a pump pulse energy between 7 and 14 mJ/cm². The observed PT is associated with the optical interband transition in VO₂ thin film. It suggests that with a pump laser illuminating on the film, excitation from the d_θ,? - state of valence band to the unoccupied excited mixed d_θ,?-π* - state of the conduction band in the insulator phase occurs, followed by a resonant transition to an unoccupied excited mixed d_θ,?-π* - state of the metallic phase band.     

Dynamics and spectra of excited states of water-micellar suspensions of single-walled carbon nanotubes

The dynamics of the photoinduced differential absorption and excited-state bleaching spectra of single-walled carbon nanotubes suspended in a micellar solution were studied in the spectral range from 40 to 1000 nm within a time interval from 70 fs to 150 ps under excitation by 50-fs pulses with photon energies 2 and 4 eV. The bleaching and absorption bands were observed in the spectra; the positions of the bleaching peaks were independent of the photon energy of the exciting femtosecond pulse in the range 2–4 eV. It was established that, for delay times shorter than 1 ps, the shape of the differential spectrum of excited nanotubes coincided with the shape of the second derivative of the absorption spectrum of unexcited nanotubes in the frequency range of exciting pulse above 18000 cm^?1 (the range of absorption bands of metallic nanotubes). In the frequency range below 16000 cm^?1 (the range of absorption peaks of semiconducting nanotubes), the bleaching peaks in the differential spectrum of excited nanotubes undergo a high-frequency shift of 200–300 cm^?1 with respect to the second-derivative spectrum of unexcited nanotubes. The excited-state relaxation rate constants were measured. They are well approximated by the exponential dependences and depend on the probe-pulse wavelength. An assumption was made about the nature of the observed spectra of excited nanotubes and about the excitation relaxation.     

Stimulated emission from trapped excitons in SnO2 nanowires

The pump fluence dependent photoluminescence (PL) spectra of SnO₂ nanowires were investigated, which were synthesized with a high-temperature chemical reduction method. The integrated intensity of the narrower peak at 3.2 eV experiences a strong superlinear dependence on the pump fluence, and the narrowest width of the sharp peak is only 19 meV. Moreover, under high excitation fluence, an ultrafast decay time (less than 20 ps) appears in the time-resolved PL spectra. The emission of these SnO₂ nanowires shows strong apparent stimulated emission behaviors although the SnO₂ is a dipole forbidden direct gap semiconductor. The stimulated emission should relate to the localized islands on the surface of nanowire, which was observed through the high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) image. The giant-oscillator-strength effect of bound exciton generated from the localized islands was considered to induce the stimulated emission of SnO₂ nanowires.     

Luminescence spectroscopy of Ln-doped Bi-containing phosphates and molybdates

The photoluminescence (PL) emission and excitation spectra of undoped and doped with rare-earth (RE = Eu, Tb) ions K₃Bi₅(PO₄)₆ and K₂Bi(PO₄)(MoO₄) crystals are studied in 3.7–14 eV region of the excitation photon energies at T = 8 and 300 K. The mechanisms of the host-related and RE-related luminescence in 3.7–7 eV region of the excitation photon energies are revealed in comparative analysis of the PL spectra of studied compounds. It is assumed that the excitation mechanisms of host luminescence of K₃Bi₅(PO₄)₆ and K₂Bi(PO₄) (MoO₄) crystals below 4.8 eV are related to Bi³⁺ ions in oxygen surrounding. An efficient energy transfer from the Bi³⁺-related luminescence centers to the emitting RE centers exists in crystals with low concentration of the RE dopants (1%). The PL excitation spectra of K₃Bi₅(PO₄)₆ crystals with high concentration of Eu dopants are formed by O – Eu CT transitions.     

Ellipsometric study of the optical properties of Ca1 − x La x MnO3 single crystals (x = 0–0.2) under n-type doping

The dispersion of the real, ε₁(ω), and imaginary, ε₂(ω), parts of the complex permittivity of Ca_{1 ? x} La_xMnO₃ single crystals (x = 0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.12, 0.20) was studied at room temperature in the spectral region extending from 60 meV to 5 eV. It was found that substitution of lanthanum for calcium shifts the 3.1-eV absorption band in the optical-conductivity spectrum toward higher energies, with the spectral weight of the low-energy wing of the 2.2-eV band becoming redistributed to the band-gap region (E < 1.5 eV) of the starting CaMnO₃ compound. The specific features of optical-conductivity dispersion in the mid-IR region that occur under n-type doping were established. The frequency dependence of optical conductivity was shown to differ from the Drude behavior characteristic of metals. The optical-conductivity spectra of Ca_{1 ? x} La_xMnO₃ were compared with our earlier results on a series of hole-doped La_{1 ? x} Sr_xMnO₃ single crystal.