Resonant Raman scattering in germanium

We have studied the spectral dependence of the first order Raman scattering cross section of Ge at room and liquid nitrogen temperatures in the energy region containing the E₁ and E₁ + Δ₁ optical gaps. This region was covered by a fine mesh of points obtained from the discrete lines of three gas lasers and a cw continuously tunable dye laser. Only one resonant peak was observed, as opposed to the two peaks that characterise the absorption and reflection spectra in this region. The shape of this resonance peak can be explained as due to the changes in the electronic polarizability produced by phonon-induced wave function mixing of the spin-orbit split Λ valence band doublet. The observed temperature shift in the resonant energy is much smaller than the one predicted from the known shifts of the optical gaps with temperature. Furthermore the resonant peak at room temperature appears shifted to higher energies when compared with the theoretical peak calculated from the room temperature optical constants. The resonant Raman peak appears to shift with increasing temperature by the full thermal expansion effect plus only a fraction of the electron-phonon interaction shift seen in the optical constants.     

Resonant Raman scattering of optical phonons in self-assembled quantum dots

We have investigated the carrier relaxation mechanism in InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots by photoluminescence excitation (PLE) spectroscopy. Near-field scanning optical microscope successfully shows that a PLE resonance at a relaxation energy of 36 meV can be seen in all single-dot luminescence spectra, and thus can be attributed to resonant Raman scattering by a GaAs LO phonon to the excitonic ground state. In addition, a number of sharp resonances observed in single-dot PLE spectra can be identified as resonant Raman features due to localized phonons, which are observed in the conventional Raman spectrum. The results reveal the mechanism for the efficient relaxation of carriers observed in self-assembled quantum dots: the carriers can relax within the continuum states, and make transitions to the excitonic ground state by phonon emission.     

Resonant Raman scattering in nanostructures with InGaAs/AlAs quantum dots

Raman scattering by optical phonons in In_xGa_{1 ? x} As/AlAs nanostructures with quantum dots has been studied experimentally for compositions corresponding to x = 0.3?1 under out-resonance conditions. Features due to scattering by GaAs-and InAs-like optical phonons in quantum dots have been detected, and the phonon frequencies have been determined as a function of the dot composition. With increasing excitation energy, a red shift is observed in the frequency of the GaAs-like phonon in quantum dots, which testifies to Raman scattering selective by the size of quantum dots. Under resonant conditions, multiphonon light scattering by optical and interface phonons is observed up to the third order, including overtones of the first-order phonons of InGaAs and AlAs materials and their combinations.     

Surface enhanced Raman scattering by CdS quantum dots

Surface enhanced Raman scattering is studied in nanostructures with CdS quantum dots formed using the Langmuir-Blodgett technology. Features due to quantum dot longitudinal optical phonons are observed in the Raman spectra of both free CdS quantum dots and such dots distributed in an organic matrix. The surface enhanced Raman scattering by nanostructures with CdS quantum dots covered by an Ag cluster film is observed experimentally. Applying Ag clusters onto the nanostructure surfaces results in a sharp (40-fold) increase in the intensity of Raman scattering by optical phonons in the quantum dots. It is shown that the dependence of surface enhanced Raman scattering on the excitation energy is resonant with a maximum at the energy corresponding to the maximum absorption coefficient of Ag clusters.     

Resonant Raman scattering of discrete hole states in self-assembled Si/Ge quantum dots

We report the first resonant electronic Raman spectroscopy study of discrete electronic transitions within small p-doped self-assembled Si/Ge quantum dots (QDs). A heavy hole (hh) to light hole (lh) Raman transition with a dispersionless energy of 105 meV and a resonance energy of the hh states to virtually localised electrons at the direct band gap of 2.5 eV are observed. The hh–lh transition energy shifts to lower values with increasing annealing temperature due to significant intermixing of Si and Ge in the QDs. Structural parameters of the small Si/Ge dots have been determined and introduced into 6-band k·p valence band structure calculations. Both the value of the electronic Raman transition of localised holes as well as the resonance energy at the E₀ gap are in excellent agreement with the calculations.     

Resonant Raman scattering in germanium and zincblende-type semiconductors temperature dependence

We have measured the resonance in the Raman scattering near the E₁ gaps of InAs and of a Ge_0.77 Si_0.23 alloy at 77, 300 and 594°K. In contrast to the E₁ gap determined in absorption and transmission measurements, the coresponding peak in the spectral dependence of the scattering cross section shifts very little with temperature; it occurs at all temperatures very near the energy of the absorption peak measured at low temperatures (∼ 77°K).     

Enhancement of Raman scattering by ultramarine using silver films on surface of germanium quantum dots on silicon

The germanium on silicon (Ge-on-Si) semiconductor nanostructures with a vacuum-deposited silver coating are tested as substrates for detecting microamounts of inorganic crystalline ultramarine pigment by enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). At least tenfold enhancement of Raman lines is obtained. The quantum-chemical calculations are performed and used to assign the bands in the Raman spectra. A significant electrooptic anharmonicity of vibrations of chromophore groups in the presence of an SERS-active compound is found.     

Resonant Raman scattering of ZnS,ZnO, and ZnS/ZnO core/shell quantum dots

Resonant Raman scattering by optical phonon modes as well as their overtones was investigated in ZnS and ZnO quantum dots grown by the Langmuir–Blodgett technique. The in situ formation of ZnS/ZnO core/shell quantum dots was monitored by Raman spectroscopy during laser illumination.     

Raman scattering of light by optical phonons in Si-Ge-Si structures with quantum dots

Raman scattering of light by optical phonons in Si-Ge-Si structures with pseudomorphic germanium quantum dots has been investigated. Resonance amplification of the scattering intensity on E ₀ (Γ₇−Γ₈) transitions has been observed. It is shown that as a result of the formation of the layer of germanium quantum dots, the resonance energy is ∼0.3 eV higher than in the two-dimensional case. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 64, No. 3, 203–207 (10 August 1996)     

Resonant Raman scattering from CdTe/ZnTe self-assembled quantum dot structures

We report resonant Raman scattering results of CdTe/ZnTe self-assembled quantum dot (QD) structures. Photoluminescence spectra reveal that the band gap energies of the CdTe QDs decrease with the increase of CdTe thickness from 2.0 to 3.5 monolayers, which indicates that the size of the QDs increases. When the CdTe/ZnTe QD structures are excited by non-resonant excitation, a longitudinal optical (LO) phonon response from the ZnTe barrier material is observed at 206 cm⁻¹. In contrast, when the CdTe/ZnTe QD structures are resonantly excited near the band gap energy of the QDs, additional phonon modes emerge at 167 and 200 cm⁻¹, while the ZnTe LO phonon response completely disappears. The 167 cm⁻¹ mode corresponds to the LO phonon of the CdTe QDs. A spatially resolved Raman scattering from the cleaved edge of the QD sample reveals that the 200 cm⁻¹ mode is strongly localized at the interface between the CdTe QDs and ZnTe cap layer. This phonon mode is attributed to the interface optical (IO) phonon. The analytically calculated value of the IO phonon energy using a dielectric continuum approach, assuming a spherical dot boundary, agrees well with the experimental value.     

Optical emission and Raman scattering in modulation-doped gaAs-AlGaAs quantum wires and dots

Magneto-optical properties and resonant Raman spectroscopy of modulation doped GaAs-AlGaAs quantum well wires are reported. Their properties are compared with similar undoped quantum well wires to investigate the many electron effects in nanostructures. In undoped samples, the quantised energy levels observed by luminescence excitation spectroscopy are in good agreement with a particle-in-a-box model. In doped samples, the carrier confinement is explicitly revealed by magneto-luminescence and depolarised resonant Raman scattering. The calculated spectra in a Hartree model are in reasonable agreement with experiment.PACS: 78.66.Fd, 78.30.Fs, 78.55.Cr, 73.20.Dx     

Raman scattering in multilayer structures with CdTe quantum dots in ZnTe

Raman spectra in superlattices composed of layers of self-assembled CdTe quantum dots separated by ZnTe barriers are investigated. As the barrier thickness increases, a high-frequency shift of all peaks is observed, which is explained by a decrease in the lattice constant averaged over the volume of the entire structure. Peaks are found at a CdTe TO mode frequency of 140 cm^?1 and also at 120 cm^?1. The first peak is assigned to the symmetric Coulomb (interface) mode of the quantum dot material, and the low-frequency peak is assigned to the symmetric mode of the phonons captured in the quantum dot. This combination of modes in structures with quantum dots has not been observed previously.     

Resonant acceptor states and terahertz stimulated emission of uniaxially strained germanium

The stimulated emission spectrum of uniaxially strained p-Ge is presented. The energy spectrum of the states of a shallow acceptor in Ge under uniaxial compression is calculated. The threshold pressure at which the acceptor state split off from the ground state becomes resonant is found. The pressure dependence of the width of this resonant level is calculated. The stimulated emission lines are identified. In particular, it is shown that the principal emission peak corresponds to the transition of holes from the resonant 1s (1s _r) state to the local p _±1 state. The probabilities of optical transitions are calculated. A mechanism of population inversion due to the intense resonant scattering of hot holes with an energy corresponding to the position of the 1s _r level is proposed. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 115, 89–100 (January 1999)     

Resonant Raman scattering by plasmons in n-type Ge

We have measured the Raman efficiency for plasmon scattering in n-type Ge as a function of laser excitation frequency in the range of the E₁ and E₁+Δ₁ optical gaps (2.1–2.5 eV). Our results can be explained by a mechanism involving the macroscopic electric field that accompanies the plasma oscillation in a manner similar to that responsible for Fröhlich-interaction-induced forbidden LO-phonon resonances in polar semiconductors plus some contribution of the standard cdf mechanism for scattering by plasmons.     

Optical phonon spectrum of germanium quantum dots

We have observed additional lines, shifted in both directions relative to the frequency of the bulk phonon of Ge, in the Raman scattering spectra from optical phonons in germanium quantum dots. The observed phonon modes are shown to be due to the straining of the quantum dots as a result of the lattice mismatch of the Ge and Si matrices. The observed frequency shifts, with allowance for optical-phonon localization effects, make it possible to determine the sizes of the regions with different strain states in the quantum dots. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 70, No. 4, 279–283 (25 August 1999)     

Electron and donor-impurity-related Raman scattering and Raman gain in triangular quantum dots under an applied electric field

The differential cross-section of electron Raman scattering and the Raman gain arecalculated and analysed in the case of prismatic quantum dots with equilateral trianglebase shape. The study takes into account their dependencies on the size of the triangle,the influence of externally applied electric field as well as the presence of an ionizeddonor center located at the triangle’s orthocenter. The calculations are made within theeffective mass and parabolic band approximations, with a diagonalization scheme beingapplied to obtain the eigenfunctions and eigenvalues of the x-y Hamiltonian. The incidentand secondary (scattered) radiation have been considered linearly-polarized along they-direction, coinciding with the direction of theapplied electric field. For the case with an impurity center, Raman scattering with theintermediate state energy below the initial state one has been found to show maximumdifferential cross-section more than by an order of magnitude bigger than that resultingfrom the scheme with lower intermediate state energy. The Raman gain has maximum magnitudearound 35 nm dot size andelectric field of 40 kV/cm forthe case without impurity and at maximum considered values of the input parameters for thecase with impurity. Values of Raman gain of the order of up to 10⁴cm^-1 are predicted in bothcases.     

Resonant light scattering by a gradient quantum well

Resonant scattering of monochromatic light by a quantum well with the frequency of its excitonic resonance varying along a certain direction in the plane of the well is studied experimentally and theoretically. It is shown that the simplest model of a thin inhomogeneous layer that yields an exact solution of the direct and inverse scattering problems allows one to successfully describe the experimental observation of resonant scattering by a GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well with the frequency of the exciton resonance linearly varying in the plane of the well.