1.3-μm GaInAsP/InP Multi-Quantum-Well Surface-Emitting Lasers

A multi-quantum-well (MQW) active layer has been introduced to 1.3-μm GaInAsP/InP surface-emitting (SE) lasers. Room temperature pulsed operation of a 1.3-μm MQW SE laser was obtained for the first time and its threshold current was 15 mA. CW (continuous wave) operation up to 7°C (threshold current 1_th=7.6 mA at 7°C) was achieved.     

SiGe (Ge-dot) heterojunction phototransistors for efficient light detection at 1.3–1.55 μm

The aim of this work is to develop a Si/SiGe HBT-type phototransistor with several Ge dot layers incorporated in the collector, in order to obtain improved light detectivity at 1.3–1.55 μm. The MBE grown HBT detectors are of n–p–n type and based on a multilayer structure containing 10 Ge-dot layers (8 ML in each layer, separated by 60 nm Si spacer) in the base-collector junction. The transistors were processed for normal incidence or with waveguide geometry where the light is coupled through the edge of the sample. The measured breakdown voltage, BV_ceo, was about 6 V. Compared to a p–i–n reference photodiode with the same dot layer structure, photoconductivity measurements show that the responsivity is improved by a factor of 60 for normal incidence at 1.3 μm. When the light is coupled through the edge of the device, the detectivity is even further enhanced. The measured photo-responsivity is more than 100 and 5 mA/W at 1.3 and 1.55 μm, respectively.     

Efficient diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 continuous-wave laser at 1.34 μm

We report a high-power continuous-wave(cw) diode-pumped efficient 1.34 μm Nd:YVO₄ laser. The laser properties of a low Nd³⁺-doped concentration of the Nd:YVO₄ crystal operating at 1.34 μm formed with a simple plane-concave cavity have been demonstrated. With the incident pump power of 22 W, an output power of 8.24 W was obtained, giving an optical conversion efficiency of 37.5% and slope efficiency of 40%. The thermal effects of cw end-pumped solid-state lasers were studied.     

Research status in thin-film crystalline Si solar cells

Recent research status and future subjects for the development of thin-film crystalline Si solar cells were reviewed. Optimum design of cell configuration and polycrystalline silicon growth by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) were demonstrated. In order to configure high efficiency thin-film poly-Si solar cells, a novel method of quasi-three-dimensional simulation using a cylindrical coordinate system was carried out. Interface recombination velocity at grain boundaries should be less than 10³ cm/s based on the simulation results. Even at a relatively short diffusion length of L_n=50 μm, high efficiency larger than 16% will be expected at a thickness of 5–20 μm. Poly-Si films with columnar structures whose diameter was around 5 μm were successfully deposited on foreign substrates with APCVD at a high growth rate of 0.8 μm/min. Up-to-date status of reported cell performances were discussed in addition to future prospects.     

Figure Error Correction by Reflection Wavefront Control of Cu K<Subscript>α</Subscript> Grazing Incidence Multilayer Mirrors

Reflection phase and amplitude of grazing incidence multilayer mirrors for CuK_α radiation have been studied theoretically to evaluate phase correction effects of multilayer surface milling, which revealed good possibilities of correcting mirror substrate figure errors for focusing and imaging application. The mirror multilayers composed of base materials of Cu and Ni were studied in combination with Al, Be, C, Mg and Si for high reflectivity at a grazing angle of 3° incidence. The theoretical surface milling of Cu/Al multilayers of a period thickness of 1.478 nm provides phase correction of 1.7° per period, which corresponds to an accurate correction of substrate figure errors at a rate of 0.007 nm per period. Thus, the milling after the multilayer fabrication, compared to the milling before the multilayer fabrication, enables far more accurate phase correction with 200 times finer control.     

High power 1.3414 μm Nd:YAP cw laser

The eigen-oscillation mode of the Nd:YAP cw laser has been analysed. The influence of thermal effects arising from the pumping process on the output character of the 1.3414 μm Nd:YAP cw laser has been discussed. The crack problem of the reflective film at a 1.34 μm dielectric mirror has been solved. Based on the aforementioned work, we have been able to achieve an 82.8 W laser output at 1.3414 μm with a nearly polarized beam from a 5.8 mm diameter by 111 mm Nd:YAP rod. The overall efficiency and the slope efficiency are 1.15% and 2.02% respectively, and the fluctuation of the output power at 62 W is less than 1% during continuous operation for 45 min.     

Si/SiO2 multilayers: synthesis by reactive magnetron sputtering and photoluminescence emission

This paper relates a complete study of Si/SiO₂ multilayer (ML) structures. First, we suggest an original way of synthesis based on reactive magnetron sputtering of a pure silica target. The photoluminescence spectra of these MLs consist of two Gaussian bands in the visible-near infrared spectral region. The stronger one (I band) is fixed at about 780 nm and probably due to interface states. The weaker one (Q band) is tuneable with the Si sublayer thickness and originates from a radiative recombination within the nanosized Si layers. For this latter band the peak position is a function of the Si sublayer thickness and shows a discontinuity at 30 Å. This corresponds to an Si phase change. For thicknesses above 30 Å, the sublayers are composed of nanocrystalline silicon whereas below 30 Å the sublayers are made of amorphous silicon. We develop a model based on a quantum well to which we have added an interfacial region between Si and SiO₂. It is characterised by an interfacial potential of 0.3 eV. This model depicts the simultaneous behaviour of Q and I bands for an Si sublayer thickness below 30 Å.     

Room temperature visible light emission from Si/SiO2 multilayers: Roles of interface electronic states and silicon phase

We have studied luminescence properties and microstructure of 20 patterns Si/SiO₂ multilayers. The photoluminescence spectra consist of two gaussian bands in the visible-infrared spectral region. It has been demonstrated that the strong PL band is caused by the radiative recombination in the Si/SiO₂ interfaces states, whereas the weaker band originates from radiative recombination in the nanosized Si layers. The peak shift of this latter band shows a discontinuity that corresponds to a crystalline-to-amorphous phase change when the Si layers are thinner than 30 Å. The peak energy as a function of the layer thickness is interpreted using a quantum confinement model in the case of amorphous Si layers.     

Study for dual-function EUV multilayer mirror

Studying the distribution of He⁺ in Earth's plasmasphere by detecting its resonantly scattered emission at 304 Å will record the structure and dynamics of the cold plasma in Earth's plasmasphere on a global scale. EUV imaging systems usually utilizes near-normal incidence optics including multilayer mirror and filter. In this paper, the space condition of the Earth's plasmasphere to confirm the expected performance of mirror were analyzed. In order to achieve higher response at 304 Å and reduce 584 Å radiation for the optical system, a new multilayer coating of Mo/Si with UO₂ was developed. Based on optical constants of Mo, Si and UO₂, we used a simplest method to compute the reflectance of this new multilayer mirror range from 100 to 584 Å. The results show the desirable thickness of UO₂ is 17 Å, and the multilayer mirror has a high reflectance of 26.10% at 304 Å and a low reflectance of 0.52% at 584 Å.     

Enhanced field emission from PbTiO3 nanodots prepared by phase separation approach

Uniformly distributed PbTiO₃ nanodots were successfully prepared by phase separation approach. A precursor sol film was first spin-coated on Si wafer and then spontaneously separated into two distinct phases owing to the Marangoni instability. PT nanodots with tailorable size and density were obtained after further heat treatment. X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that these nanodots showed a perovskite structure. An excellent room temperature field emission property of PbTiO₃ nanodots was observed: the minimum turn-on voltage was about 5.3 V/μm; while the emission current density reached about 270 μA cm⁻² at an applied field of about 9.25 V/μm.     

低温退火的X射线W/Si多层膜应力和结构性能

W/Si多层膜反射镜在硬X射线天文望远镜中有重要应用. 为减小其应力对反射镜面形和望远镜分辨率的影响, 同时保证较高的反射率, 采用150, 175和200 ℃ 的低温退火工艺对采用磁控溅射镀制的W/Si周期多层膜进行后处理. 利用掠入射X射线反射测试和样品表面面形测试对退火前后W/Si多层膜的应力和结构进行表征. 结果表明, 在150 ℃ 退火3 h 后, 多层膜1级峰反射率和膜层结构几乎没有发生变化, 应力减少约27%; 在175 ℃ 退火3 h后, 多层膜膜层结构开始发生变化, 应力减少约50%; 在200 ℃退火3 h 后, 多层膜应力减小超过60%, 但1级布拉格峰反射率相对下降17%, 且膜层结构发生了较大变化. W, Si界面层的增大和相互扩散加剧是应力和反射率下降的主要原因.     

Optically pumped lead chalcogenide infrared emitters on silicon substrates

Two low cost-infrared sources emitting above 4 μm wavelength are described: (i) Double heterostructure or quantum well EuSe/PbSe/Pb_1−xEu_xSe edge emitting lasers on silicon substrates show peak powers up to 200 mW and differential quantum efficiencies up to 20%. They operate up to 250 K when pumped with 870 nm laser diodes (with peak powers of 5.5 W). (ii) A “wavelength transformer”, a EuSe/PbSe/Pb_1−xEu_xSe active resonant cavity with epitaxial bottom and top mirror on a Si(1 1 1) substrate transforms the incoming 870 nm pump radiation into e.g. 4.2 μm wavelength. The device operates at room temperature, and the width and value of the emission wavelength can be tuned by design.     

Optical properties of InAs quantum dots in a Si matrix

We report on the optical properties of nanoscale InAs quantum dots in a Si matrix. At a growth temperature of 400°C, the deposition of 7 ML InAs leads to the formation of coherent islands with dimensions in the 2–4 nm range with a high sheet density. Samples with such InAs quantum dots show a luminescence band in the 1.3 μm region for temperatures up to 170 K. The PL shows a pronounced blue shift with increasing excitation density and decays with a time constant of 440 ns. The optical properties suggest an indirect type II transition for the InAs/Si quantum dots. The electronic structure of InAs/Si QDs is discussed in view of available band offset information.     

Phase-change behavior in Si/Sb80Te20 nanocomposite multilayer films

Phase-change behavior in Si/Sb₈₀Te₂₀ nanocomposite multilayer films were investigated by utilizing in situ resistance measurements. It was found that the crystallization temperature increased firstly with increasing Si layer thickness within the multilayer films, and then remained almost unchanged at 170°C. The multilayer films have the merits of both good thermal stability and fast phase-change speed. An increase in crystallization temperature by around 95°C was observed for the multilayer films when the Sb₈₀Te₂₀ layer thickness was reduced to 3 nm. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations revealed that Si/Sb₈₀Te₂₀ nanocomposite multilayer films had layered structures with clear interfaces. The reversible phase change between set and reset states was verified in phase-change random access memory (PCRAM) cell based on [Si (1 nm)/Sb₈₀Te₂₀ (5 nm)]₁₇ multilayer film.     

Infrared Optical Characterization of PLT Thin Films for Applications in Uncooled Infrared Detectors

Lanthanum-modified lead titanate (PLT) thin films have been grown directly on Pt/Ti/SiO₂/Si (100) and LaNiO₃/Si (100) substrates by a modified sol-gel method. X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the PLT thin films are polycrystalline. The infrared optical properties of the thin films were investigated using infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry (IRSE) in the spectral range of 2.5–12.5 m. By fitting the measured ellipsometric parameter (tan and cos) data with a three phase model (air/PLT/Pt) for the PLT thin films on Pt/Ti/SiO₂/Si (100) and a four phase model (air/PLT/LNO/Si) for the PLT thin films on LaNiO₃/Si (100) substrates, and a derived classical dispersion relation for the thin films, the optical constants and thicknesses of the thin films have been simultaneously obtained. The refractive index and extinction coefficient of the PLT thin films on Pt/Ti/SiO₂/Si (100) substrates are slightly larger than those on LaNiO₃/Si (100) substrates. Given the infrared semitransparent metal of Nickel currently used, the absorption of the Ni/PLT/Pt and Ni/PLT/LNO/Si multilayer thin films in this study is very large around 3.0 m and 5.7 m wavelength range and decrease to 15% or 20% in the 8–12.5 m wavelength region.     

Theoretical calculations of a square multilayer Bragg–Fresnel lens by quantum theory

A theoretical method based on the quantum scattering theory is presented to evaluate the performances of a two-dimensional (2-D) focusing square multilayer Bragg–Fresnel lens. The numerical application results of the square multilayer Bragg–Fresnel lens working at 0.7 nm wavelength (W/Si 25 periods with a double layer thickness of 5.38 nm, the size of the diffraction pattern is about 291×291 μm, the size of the center square in the diffraction pattern is 21.4×21.4 μm, and the size of the smallest square in the diffraction pattern is 0.39×0.39 μm) are given. Our theoretical results are compared with the experimental results of the linear Bragg–Fresnel lens reported by other researchers; an analysis and a discussion are carried out regarding the advantages of an optical system based on the 2-D focusing square multilayer Bragg–Fresnel lens, in contrast to a Kirkpatrick–Baez optical system on the basis of a two-linear Bragg–Fresnel lens.     

Development of a cw Co : MgF2 laser

The results obtained in the development of a cryogenic cw Co : MgF₂ laser, realized at the Dipartimento di Fisica of the Università di Pisa are presented. The laser can be tuned continuously in the range between 1.6 and 2.1 μm, with a typical output power of 1–2 W. A preliminary application to the spectroscopy of a Tm : YLF doped crystal is reported by using a photoacoustic apparatus.     

Laser output power over 5 W at 1.06 μm for Nd:GdVO4 single crystal

In this paper, we report the polarization absorption spectra from 400 to 850 nm, polarization emission spectra from 1050 to 1100 nm and laser properties of an Nd:GdVO₄ crystal. An output power of up to 5.29 W at 1.06 μm has been achieved with a 3×3×3 mm Nd:GdVO₄ crystal sample when it is pumped by a cw laser diode.     

AlGaN/GaN HEMTs grown on silicon (001) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy

We report the realization of an AlGaN/GaN HEMT on silicon (001) substrate with noticeably better transport and electrical characteristics than previously reported. The heterostructure has been grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The 2D electron gas formed at the AlGaN/GaN interface exhibits a sheet carrier density of 8×10¹² cm⁻² and a Hall mobility of 1800 cm²/V s at room temperature. High electron mobility transistors with a gate length of 4 μm have been processed and DC characteristics have been achieved. A maximum drain current of more than 500 mA/mm and a transconductance g_m of 120 mS/mm have been obtained. These results are promising and open the way for making efficient AlGaN/GaN HEMT devices on Si(001).     

Recent progress in the development of type II interband cascade lasers

Type-II interband cascade lasers combine the advantage of an interband optical transition with interband tunneling to enable the cascading of type-II quantum well active regions as is done in type-I quantum cascade laser. The relatively high radiative efficiency resulting from interband optical transitions translates into very low-threshold current densities, and when combined with the high quantum efficiency of cascade lasers, this diode laser design has the potential to operate under cw conditions at room temperature with high output power. Experimental results have already demonstrated some of this potential including high differential external quantum efficiency (>600%), high peak output power (6 W/facet at 80 K), high cw power conversion efficiency (>17% at 80 K), and operation at 300 K under pulsed conditions. Recent work aimed at reducing device thermal resistance and increasing cw operating temperature is reviewed including the demonstration of significant reductions in thermal resistance (averaging 25 K/W or 40% for 1-mm-long devices), 80 K cw operation at 3.4 μm with high-power conversion efficiency (23%) and high differential external quantum efficiency (532%), and cw operation up to 214 K.