Raman gain in modified tellurite glasses and thin films

We report the tailoring of Raman spectra of the tellurite glass by varying molar concentrations of phosphates, fluorides in phosphate modified tellurite glasses to analyze the Raman gain. From the measured Raman spectrum, the Raman gain and gain bandwidth in these glasses were calculated and compared. The structural features that give rise to the observed spectra and its dependence on glass composition are identified and reported. Raman gain as high as 170 × 10^? 13 m/W is obtained for glass modified by zinc oxide. Glass thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition show a Raman gain of 5.0 × 10^? 13 m/W suggesting their importance in short waveguide Raman amplifier fabrication.     

Polaron dynamics in thin polythiophene films studied with time-resolved photoemission

Femtosecond time-resolved two-photon photoemission spectroscopy is employed to study the dynamics of an excited state in a thin regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) (RR-P3HT) film deposited on a conducting polymer poly(3,4-ethylene-dioxythiophene): poly-(styrenesulfonate) (PEDT:PSS) electrode following optical excitation at 2.1 eV. We found that the biexponential decay of this excited state has a fast component (2.6 ps) assigned to bound polaron pairs which recombine quickly or separate to be added to the slow component (7.6 ps). The latter is attributed to polarons generated via charge transfer between adjacent polymer chains.     

Surface plasmon resonance from metallic columnar thin films

Surface plasmon (SP) waves on the interface of a dielectric (such as water) and a metallic columnar thin film (CTF) of porosity as high as 0.55 were experimentally and theoretically investigated. The CTFs were made of Al, Au, Ag, or Cr. As the porosity increases, the SP resonance (SPR) dip was found to widen, shift to higher wave numbers, and become asymmetric due to increasing scattering losses. With further increase of porosity, the SPR dip was found to disappear, leaving behind only a peak near the onset to the total internal reflection regime. The shape of the nanoislands constituting the CTF is better described as ellipsoidal than as spherical or spheroidal, indicating thereby the existence of orientational biaxial anisotropy even for CTFs thinner than 60 nm. For a best fit between the theoretical calculations and the experimental data, the CTF was divided into two layers having different porosity and nanoisland shape, particularly for the Ag- and Au-CTFs. The sensitivity of the CTF-based SPR signal to refractive index variations of an analyte infiltrating the nanopores of and in the region adjoining the metallic CTF was found to be doubly enhanced compared to that for the SPR signal from a nonporous metallic film.     

Quasi-molecular angle dependence of photoemission from thin films of polystyrene

Angle-resolved photoelectron spectra from thin films of randomly oriented polystyrene show a pronounced angular dependence of the emission for several peaks derived from benzene molecular orbitals in the valence band region. The analysis yields a clear molecular behaviour for the angular distribution of the uppermost π-band (1e_1g) which can be described by a β parameter of β = 0.6 for hν = 31 eV. These results support, for polystyrene, the notion of weak intermolecular interaction in a randomly oriented “condensed gas”.     

Magnetic properties of thin epitaxial films investigated by spin-polarized photoemission

The surface sensitivity of the spin-polarized photoemission experiment was exploited to study two-dimensional magnetism. The magnetization of thin films of Fe, Co, and V in the monolayer (ML) range, grown on Cu(001) and Ag(001) single crystals, was measured as a function of perpendicularly applied field and temperature. Bcc Fe films and fcc Fe and Co films exhibit ferromagnetism down to the single monolayer range, while no evidence for ferromagnetism is found for V on Ag(001). All Co films are magnetized in plane and have a Curie temperature far above room temperature. A thickness dependence of the anisotropy and Curie temperature is observed for the two phases of Fe. Remanent magnetization perpendicular to the surface is found at 30 K for fcc Fe films thicker than 2 ML and for bcc Fe between 3 and 4 ML. The magnetic effects caused by coating and by interdiffusion are discussed in the light of measurements of Cu/Fe/Cu sandwiches and of overlayers obtained by simultaneous evaporation of Fe and Cu. The fcc Fe films are shown to be suitable for thermomagnetic writing.     

Mechanism of gain narrowing in conjugated polymer thin films

Received: 19 January 1998     

High resolution hard X-ray photoemission using synchrotron radiation as an essential tool for characterization of thin solid films

Recently, we have shown that hard X-ray photoemission spectroscopy using undulator X-rays at SPring-8 is quite feasible with both high resolution and high throughput. Here we report an application of hard X-ray photoemission spectroscopy to the characterization of electronic and chemical states of thin solid films, for which conventional PES is not applicable. As a typical example, we focus on the problem of the scatter in the reported band-gap values for InN. We show that oxygen incorporation into the InN film strongly modifies the valence and plays a crucial role in the band gap problem. The present results demonstrate the powerful applicability of high resolution photoemission spectroscopy with hard X-rays from a synchrotron source.     

Damping of the surface plasmon in clean and K-modified Ag thin films

The damping processes of electronic collective excitations of Ag/Ni(1 1 1) were studied by high-resolution electron energy spectroscopy. The FMHM of the Ag surface plasmon was reported as a function of Ag thickness, primary electron beam energy, Ag surface plasmon energy, and parallel momentum transfer. The broadening of the Ag surface plasmon was found to be related to 5sp–5sp transitions, for which a critical wave vector of 0.2 Å⁻¹ exists. Moreover, we provide a direct evidence of the occurrence of chemical interface damping in thin films, upon doping the Ag/Ni(1 1 1) system with K adatoms. The enhanced plasmon broadening in K/Ag/Ni(1 1 1) was ascribed to the existence of additional electron–hole decay channels at the K/Ag interface.     

Bulk and surface plasmon excitation in X-ray photoemission

A quantitative theory of bulk and surface plasmon excitation by X-ray photoelectrons in thin metallic films is presented. The shape and strength of inelastic peaks in energy spectra are calculated. Their dependence on the point of primary excitation, energy and direction of the outgoing electron is discussed in the case of X-ray photoemission from aluminium.     

Surface plasmon resonance characterization of thermally evaporated thin gold films

The heterogeneous character of thin gold films prepared by thermal evaporation and the dependence of this heterogeneity on the rate of their deposition must be considered when exploiting their optical properties for biosensor purposes. For instance, the performance of thin gold films for surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensors may drastically be degraded if care is not taken to prepare a film with a high fraction of gold (>95%). We use three different models to interpret the SPR response of gold films prepared by thermal evaporation. We show that the interpretation of the SPR curves requires considering both a global heterogeneity of the gold films and a surface roughness. Our conclusions are further corroborated by scanning surface plasmon microscope (SSPM) images of these thin gold films.     

Surface studies of absorbing thin solid films

We report some experimental results concerning the surface roughness studies of a variety of absorbing thin solid films using a Digital Photon Correlator designed and fabricated by us. We determine the mean square (m.s.) deviation of thickness about the average value as determined by gravimetric techniques. The corresponding electron micrographs are presented for comparison.     

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.     

Valence photoemission study of temperature dependent reaction products in Ni-Si interfaces and thin films

Si(lll)-Ni interfaces were prepared by deposition of Ni onto Si(lll) held at liquid nitrogen temperature (LNT) and successively heated. We give angle integrated photoemission results (hν=21.2 eV) at LNT and at room temperature as a function of coverage (up to 10 monolayers). We also give photoemission results for bulk Ni₂Si and NiSi prepared “in situ” by interdiffusion. The results are discussed in terms of the properties of the products formed in the interface reacted region.     

Al/ZnO/Al薄膜的结构与磁性分析

采用直流磁控溅射的方法制备了Al/ZnO/Al纳米薄膜,并对薄膜分别在真空及空气中进行退火处理.利用X射线衍射仪(XRD)和物理性能测量仪(PPMS)分别对薄膜样品的结构和磁性进行了表征.XRD分析表明,不同的退火氛围对薄膜的微结构有着很大的影响.采用了一种新的修正方法对磁测量结果进行修正,计算了基底拟合误差的最大值,并对修正后样品的磁性进行了分析.结果显示,室温铁磁性可能与Al和ZnO基体之间发生的电荷转移以及在不同退火氛围下Al在ZnO晶格中的地位变化有关. 关键词： Al/ZnO/Al薄膜 铁磁性 磁性表征     

Light scattering study of surface plasmon resonances in very thin silver films

The surface plasmon modes of Ag thin films were studied by the light scattering method in the thickness range down to 100 Å. The observed thickness dependence of the resonance peaks was analysed in detail by the theory of Kretschmann. It is shown that the coupled surface plasmon modes in the very thin films can be detected only in modified forms by the light scattering experiment.     

Superconductivity and x—ray photoemission study of MgB2 thin films

Highly c-axis oriented MgB2 thin films with Tc^onset of 39.6K were fabricated by magnesium diffusing into pulsedlaser-deposited boron precursors.The estimation of critical current density Jc,using hysteresis loops and the Bean model,has given the value of 10^7A/cm^2(15K,0T),which is one of the highest values ever reported.The x-ray photoemission study of the MgB2 thin films has revealed that the binding energies of Mg 2p and B 1s are at 49.4eV and 186.9eV,which are close to those of metallic Mg and transition-metal diborides,respectively.     

Absorption and emission of thin solid films of octaethylporphin

Absorption and emission spectra at room temperature and emission spectra atliquid nitrogen temperature are reported for thin solid films of free base octaethylporphin. The room temperature visible absorption spectrum resembles that of the solution, except all four peaks show a red shift of ≈ 12 nm and all except the farthest red are broadened. The Soret band in the near UV is greatly broadened in the film, and its peak absorbance is substantially reduced. The room-temperature emission of the films is quite similar to that of solution fluorescence, except for a red-shift of ≈ 10 nm. But at low temperature two new peaks appear at 657 and 672 nm. Their intensity as a function of temperature can be explained by a simple exciton trapping model.