The optical dielectric function of ZnO

In this work, an analytical expression for the complex dielectric function is proposed, which includes both discrete and continuum exciton effects. We have introduced Lorentzian broadening in Elliott’s formula and compare our model to other models based on Elliott’s formula. The results show that our model is superior to other models for the dielectric function of ZnO in the literature. Excellent agreement with experimental data for the dielectric function of ZnO for both perpendicular and parallel polarizations has been obtained using our model. Received: 18 April 2001 / Accepted: 19 December 2001 / Published online: 20 March 2002 / Published online: 20 March 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. (Fax: +852-2559-8738, E-mail: dalek@eee.hku.hk)     

Modeling the optical constants of CuGaSe2 and CuInSe2

The dielectric function data for CuGaSe₂ and CuInSe₂ have been modeled for both perpendicular (E⊥c) and parallel (E∥c) polarizations. We employ the modified Adachi’s model dielectric function model with variable broadening. Variable broadening is accomplished by replacing the damping constant Γ with the energy-dependent expression Γ(E), where the shape of the broadening function is determined by two adjustable model parameters. In spite of one additional parameter per transition, this model requires fewer parameters than the conventional Adachi’s model to achieve equal or better agreement with the experimental data. Our calculations give the relative rms errors for the real and imaginary parts of the index of refraction, δ_n and δ_k, equal to 0.9% and 9.5% for CuGaSe₂ (E⊥c), 0.8% and 7.3% for CuGaSe₂ (E∥c), 1.1% and 3.0% for CuInSe₂ (E⊥c), and 2.5% and 3.7% for CuInSe₂ (E∥c), respectively. Received: 10 July 2000 / Accepted: 10 July 2000 / Published online: 9 November 2000     

Broadening of resonances in yttrium nanoparticle optical spectra

The dielectric function of yttrium in the range between 0.2 μm and 2 μm is composed of a harmonic oscillator contribution due to a discrete interband transition and the contribution of free electrons. Hence, it is possible to discuss surface plasmon polaritons as well as other electronic resonances in the optical extinction spectra of yttrium nanoparticles. For the latter, we discuss the broadening of the resonance caused by the aggregation of particles. When particles are lumped into aggregates, the color of the particle system also changes. Aggregation also affects the surface plasmon resonance in yttrium nanoparticles in a way comparable to silver or gold nanoparticle aggregates. Comparison is made with the first experimental results on yttriumnanoparticles, showing that aggregation is the dominant effect for the broad resonance in the measured extinction spectra. Received: 2 July 2001 / Revised version: 10 September 2001 / Published online: 15 October 2001     

Dielectric Properties of GaN in THz Frequencies

The complex refractive indices and the dielectric function of GaN for frequencies ranging from 0.25 to 1.22THz are obtained using THz time-domain spectroscopy. The real part of the dielectric function first decreases from 0.25 to 0.42THz and then oscillates from 0.42 to 1.22THz, whereas the imaginary part of the dielectric function is oscillating within the whole range of frequency. The simple Drude model is extended to take into account the effect of defects on the dielectric function. The extended model is in agreement with the experimental data.     

Determination of the dielectric function of porous silicon by high-order laser-harmonic radiation

Porous-silicon reflectance has been determined over a large energy range, from 1 eV to 16 eV, by combining a NIR/visible/UV spectrometer with a new VUV light source as laser-harmonic radiation. The porous-silicon dielectric function was deduced from reflectance measurements by Kramers–Kronig analysis. We point out that, for the first time, laser harmonics have been applied in the optical characterization of materials as a new and suitable alternative to synchrotron radiation. Received: 9 January 2001 / Accepted: 28 April 2001 / Published online: 20 June 2001     

Preferential regrowth of indium–tin oxide (ITO) films deposited on GaN (0001) by rf-magnetron sputter

Effects of thermal treatments on the electrical properties and microstructures of indium–tin oxide (ITO)/GaN contacts have been investigated using a rf-magnetron sputter deposition followed by rapid thermal annealing. ITO films annealed at 800 °C revealed Schottky contact characteristics with a barrier height corresponding to ITO’s work function of 4.62 eV. The evolution of electrical properties of ITO/GaN contacts was attributed to the preferential regrowth of In₂O₃ (222)//GaN (0001) with an ideal metal–semiconductor Schottky contact. The feasible use of ITO/GaN as a transparent Schottky contact would be realized by the enhanced regrowth of In₂O₃ at high temperature. Received: 1 September 2000 / Accepted: 15 November 2000 / Published online: 28 February 2001     

Flexible all-plastic mirrors for the THz range

We present a simple and cheap approach to fabricate large-area stop-band filters and mirrors for the THz range. This approach extends the well-known concept of dielectric mirrors to the far infrared. We use alternating layers of different polymer materials with a typical thickness of several tens of micrometers to build a flexible all-plastic mirror. The structures are characterized by THz time-domain spectroscopy. The experimental results are in good agreement with transfer-matrix simulations. Received: 28 September 2001 / Accepted: 4 October 2001 / Published online: 20 December 2001     

Anisotropy of atomic bonds formed by p-type dopants in bulk GaN crystals

The anisotropy of atomic bonds formed by acceptor dopants with nitrogen in bulk wurtzite GaN crystals was studied by means of linearly polarized synchrotron radiation used in measurements of X-ray-absorption spectra for the K-edgeof Mg and Zn dopants. These spectra correspond to i) a single acceptor N bond along the c-axis and ii) three bonds realized with N atoms occupying the ab-plane perpendicular to the c-axis. The Zn dopant formed resonant spectra similar to that characteristic for Ga cations. In the case of the Mg dopant, similarity to Ga cations was observed for triple bonds in the ab-plane, only. Practically no resonant structure for spectra detected along the c-axis was observed. The absorption spectra were compared with ab initio calculations using the full-potential linear muffin-tin-orbital method. These calculations were also used for determination of the bond length for Mg–N and Zn–N in wurtzite GaN crystals and show that introducing dopants causes an increase of the lengths of the bonds formed by both dopants. Extended X-ray-absorption fine-structure measurements performed for bulk GaN:Zn confirmed the prediction of the theory in the case of the Zn–N bond. Finally, it is suggested that the anisotropy in the length of the Mg–N bonds, related to their larger strength in the case of bonds in the ab-plane, can explain preferential formation of a superlattice consisting of Mg-rich layers arranged in ab-planes of several bulk GaN:Mg crystals observed by transmission electron microscopy. Within the sensitivity of the method used, no parasitic metallic clusters or oxide compounds formed by the considered acceptors in GaN crystals were found. Received: 1 March 2001 / Accepted: 19 September 2001 / Published online: 20 December 2001 / Published online: 20 December 2001     

Ionization spectrum broadening and frequency blue-shift of high-intensity femtosecond laser pulses in gas-filled capillary tubes

. We report on the experimental and theoretical study of spectrum transformation and frequency blue-shift of femtosecond laser pulses with intensities up to 2×10¹⁶ W/cm², propagating in glass capillary tubes under gas ionization. Monomode optical guiding with 45% transmission efficiency is demonstrated in a 100-μm-diameter, 20-cm length capillary. A broadening of the initial spectrum as much as several initial spectrum widths is achieved. Besides the broadening, the mean frequency of the output radiation in the spectrum experiences a blue-shift of up to several initial spectrum widths, caused by the non-stationary, non-linear process of gas ionization. Our numerical simulations, in the form of a simple one-dimensional model for the propagation of intense laser pulses in gas-filled capillaries, are in good qualitative agreement with the experimental results. These simulations show the possibility of significant compression of an output pulse in a simple compression scheme (e.g. a piece of silica glass with normal dispersion), which is very important for obtaining laser pulses with few optical cycles at the millijoule energy level. Received: 25 September 2001 / Revised version: 6 December 2001 / Published online: 25 September 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +7-8312/363-792, E-mail: dekart@ufp.appl.sci-nnov.ru     

Impact of dopants in GaN on the formation of two-dimensional electron gas in AlGaN/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors

The two-dimensional electron gas distribution in AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors is determined from the solution of the coupled Schr?dinger’s and Poisson’s equations. Considering the piezoelectric effect, the two-dimensional electron gas concentration is calculated to be as high as 7.7×10¹⁹ cm^-3. In order to obtain an understanding of how the two-dimensional electron gas distribution is influenced by dopants in GaN, we observed the two-dimensional electron gas concentration and occupation of sub-bands versus dopant concentration in the GaN layer of an AlGaN/GaN heterostructure. Our results show that the two-dimensional electron gas concentration is slightly increased at higher doping levels in GaN, while the quantum confinement in the AlGaN/GaN heterostructure is weakened with the increase of donor concentration in the GaN layer. Received: 26 May 2001 / Accepted: 23 July 2001 / Published online: 23 January 2002     

Theory of spectral hole burning for the study of ultrafast electron dynamics in metal nanoparticles

In order to study the ultrafast relaxation dynamics of surface plasmon excitation in metal nanoparticles in the presence of inhomogeneous line broadening and investigate the influence of the reduced dimensions on the dephasing time T₂ in the size regime below about 10 nm, we have recently demonstrated a novel technique based on persistent spectral hole burning [1]. Here, we describe a theoretical model that has been developed for evaluation of the experimental data and precise determination of T₂ for particles of different size and shape. Comparison of the model to experimental data for Ag nanoparticles on sapphire shows that the theoretical treatment does not only reproduce the shape of the generated holes but also the dependence of their widths on the applied laser fluence. As a result, we have a reliable and versatile tool at hand making possible systematic studies of the ultrafast electron dynamics in small metal particles, and the dependence of the femtosecond dephasing time on their size, shape and surrounding dielectric. Received: 12 September 2001 / Published online: 15 October 2001     

Self-consistent theory of screening in a two dimensional electron gas under strong magnetic field

The dielectric response of a two dimensional electron gas under a strong transverse magnetic field is obtained within a self-consistent procedure in which the broadening of Landau levels due to collisional damping from the impurities both determines and is determined by the static dielectric function of the system. The dielectric function is evaluated in random phase approximation with the impurity scattering treated in a self-consistent Born approximation. Explicit results are presented for the zero temperature, extreme quantum limit. It is found that this “no parameter” theory is in good qualitative agreement with experimental results for the broadening as extracted from magnetotransport data.     

Al，Mg掺杂GaN电子结构及光学性质的第一性原理研究

基于密度泛函理论,采用广义梯度近似方法,计算了Al,Mg掺杂的闪锌矿型GaN的电子结构和光学性质,分析了其电子态分布与结构的关系,给出了掺杂前后GaN体系的介电函数和复折射率函数.计算结果表明掺有Mg的GaN晶体空穴浓度增大,会明显提高材料的电导率,而Al掺杂GaN晶体的载流子浓度不变,只是光学带隙变宽;通过分析掺杂前后GaN晶体的介电函数和复折射率函数,解释了体系的发光机理,为GaN材料光电性能的进一步开发与应用提供了理论依据.通过比较可知,所得出的计算结果与现有文献符合得很好. 关键词： GaN晶体 电子结构 光学性质 掺杂     

A quantum mechanical expression for the lattice contribution to the total dielectric function of semiconductors

Effects of electron-electron and electron-phonon optical interactions on the lattice dielectric function of the doped polar semiconductors are investigated. A new expression for the lattice contribution to the dielectric function is derived using the remarkable Zubarev double-time Green function. A numerical calculation for the case of GaN is done to highlight the accuracy of the model. The results obtained are in agreement with the available experimental data and reproduce the main features observed in Raman scattering spectra.     

Characterization of high-quality MBE-grown GaN films on intermediate-temperature buffer layers

High-quality GaN thin films are grown by rf-plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The quality of the GaN epitaxial layer is significantly improved by using an intermediate-temperature GaN buffer layer (ITBL) in addition to a conventional 20-nm-thick low-temperature buffer layer. The GaN epitaxial layers demonstrate systematic improvements in the electron mobility increasing from 82 cm² V^-1 s^-1, for films grown with just the low-temperature buffer layer, to about 380 cm² V^-1 s^-1 for films grown with an ITBL of thickness 800 nm. The photoluminescence also indicates systematic improvements in the intensity and the full-width-half-maximum with the use of ITBL. Photoreflectance spectra are measured from the GaN films. Detailed analyses of the excitonic transition energy demonstrate that the residual strain relaxes rapidly with the use of ITBL, which is attributed to the observed improvements in the mobility and the PL spectra. Received: 30 November 2000 / Accepted: 4 December 2000 / Published online: 9 February 2001     

Aspects of near-threshold neutral pion photoproduction off protons

We investigate near-threshold neutral pion photoproduction off protons to fourth order in heavy-baryon chiral perturbation theory in the light of the new data from MAMI. We show that the unitarity cusp at the secondary π⁺ n threshold is in agreement with expectations from the final-state theorem. We also analyze the fourth-order corrections to the P-wave low-energy theorems and show that potentially large Δ isobar contributions are cancelled by sizeable pion loop effects. This solidifies the parameter-free third-order predictions, which are in good agreement with the data. Received: 25 May 2001 / Accepted: 21 June 2001     

Molecular-beam scattering and pressure broadening cross sections for the acetylene-neon system

Integral cross sections and pressure broadening coefficients have been measured for the acetylene — neon system by a molecular beam scattering technique and by high infrared resolution spectroscopy, respectively. We have performed quantal calculations using an ab-initio potential energy surface (PES) [J. Chem. Phys. 109, 8968 (1998)]. Results are found to be in good agreement with both measured integral cross sections and pressure broadening coefficients for the two temperatures investigated (173 and 298 K). We have also derived a semi-empirical PES parameterized using an atom-bond pairwise additive scheme. This PES shows an isotropic component in agreement with the ab-initio calculation, reproduces the scattering data but it only leads to a reasonable agreement for the pressure broadening coefficients.     

Flexible ceramic–polymer composite films with temperature-insensitive and tunable dielectric permittivity

BaTiO₃–polymer composite layers have been produced by the spin-on technique (thickness 3–10 μm). The dielectric permittivity of the layers at room temperature can be tuned from 2.8 to approximately 33 by varying the ceramic filling from 0 to 60% by volume. The dielectric properties of the films are almost insensitive to temperature variations in the range 20–180 °C. Free-standing composite layers with ceramic content ≤50% are flexible without noticeable change of permittivity after repeated mechanical bending. Received: 22 November 2001 / Accepted: 24 November 2001 / Published online: 23 January 2002     

Blue luminescence from the InGaN multiple quantum wells

We have fabricated very high-quality In_0.13Ga_0.87N/GaN multiple quantum wells with thickness as small as on (0 0 0 1) sapphire substrate using metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD). We have investigated these ultra-thin multiple quantum wells by continuous wave (cw) and time resolved spectroscopy in the picosecond time scales in a wide range of temperatures from 10 K to 290 K. In the luminescence spectrum at 10 K we observed a broad peak at 3.134 eV which was attributed to the quantum wells emission of InGaN. The full-width at half-maximum of this peak was 129 meV at 10 K and the broadening at low temperatures which was mostly inhomogeneous was thought to be due to compositional fluctuations and interfacial disorder in the alloy. The ultra narrow width of the quantum well was found to have a very profound effect in increasing the emission linewidth. We also observed an intense and narrow peak at 3.471 eV due to the GaN barrier. The temperature dependence of the luminescence was studied. The peak positions and intensities of the different peaks were obtained after a careful Lorentzian analysis. The activation energy of the InGaN quantum well emission peak was estimated as 69 meV. The lifetime of the quantum well emission was found to be 720 ps at 10 K. The results were explained by considering the localization of the excitons due to potential fluctuations. At higher temperatures the non-radiative recombination was found to be very dominant.