Flicker noise in degenerately doped Si single crystals near the metal-insulator transition

In this paper we report some of the important results of experimental investigations of the flicker noise near the metal-insulator (MI) transition in doped silicon single crystals. This is the first comprehensive work to study low-frequency noise in heavily doped Si over an extensive temperature range (2 K<T<500 K). The measurements of conductance fluctuations (flicker noise) were carried out in the frequency range 10⁻²<f<4 × 10¹ Hz in single crystalline Si across the MI transition by doping with phosphorous and boron. The magnitude of noise in heavily doped Si is much larger than that seen in lightly doped Si over the whole temperature range. The extensive temperature range covered allowed us to detect two distinct noise mechanisms. At low temperatures (T<100 K) universal conductance fluctuations (UCF) dominate and the spectral dependence of the noise is determined by dephasing the electron from defects with two-levels (TLS). At higher temperatures (T>200 K) the noise arises from activated defect dynamics. As the MI transition is approached, the 1/f spectral power, typical of the metallic regime, gets modified by the presence of discrete Lorentzians which arise from generation-recombination process which is the characteristic of a semiconductor.     

Collinear and non-collinear sum-frequency mixing inβ-BBO for a tunable 195–198 nm all-solid-state laser system

We attained tunable UV laser radiation between 195 and 198 nm by sum-frequency mixing two synchronized flashlamp-pumped solid-state Q-switch lasers, a Nd:YAG laser frequency quadrupled to 266 nm and a tunable (730–770 nm) alexandrite laser. UV pulse energies of 0.12 mJ with repetition rates of 10 Hz were attained in collinear, as well as non-collinear sum-frequency interaction in a-Barium Borate (BBO) crystal with a conversion efficiency of 2.5%. Theoretical models for the non-collinear phase-matching interaction were investigated at UV wavelengths below 200 nm.     

Low Timing Jitter and Tunable Dual-Wavelength Picosecond Pulse Generation from a Fabry--Pérot Laser Diode with External Injection

A novel scheme to generate tunable dual-wavelength optical pulses with low timing jitter at arbitrary repetition rates is proposed and demonstrated experimentally. The pulses are generated from a gain-switched Fabry-Pérot laser diode with two external cw beams for injection seeding simultaneously. The cw light is generated by two independent distributed feedback laser diodes, and their wavelengths can be tuned independently by two temperature controllers. The dual-wavelength pulses with the pulse width of 57 ps, the timing jitter of 340 fs, are obtained. The sidemode-suppression ratio of the output pulses is better than 23dB over a 10-nm wavelength tuning range.     

Photoablation by UV and visible laser radiation of native and doped biological tissue

Photoablation studies of biological material (human cornea) with UV and visible laser light show that effective, apparently non-conventional thermal photoablation can be achieved by introducing energy absorbing dopants in the tissue. Previously unknown high ablation rates of 80 Gmm/pulse have been observed. The results allow one to clearly postulate different ablation mechanisms for increasing laser fluence. The results are compared with the photoablation rates observed with 193 nm UV laser light on undoped human cornea. Explosive desorption has been found the dominant process involved.     

Abrupt turn-on and hysteresis in a VCSEL with frequency-selective optical feedback

The emission characteristics of a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) operated in a single-transverse mode and coupled to an external cavity with a diffraction grating as a frequency-selective element are analyzed experimentally, numerically and analytically. The experiments yield a rather abrupt turn-on of the VCSEL to a high-amplitude emission state and hysteresis phenomena. The experimental results are explained by numerical simulations and analytical calculations demonstrating the possibility of bistability between lasing and non-lasing states close to threshold. Hence, the scheme might be useful in all-optical photonic switching applications. A detailed bifurcation analysis near threshold is given by superimposing the numerical results with analytical steady-state curves. The mode selection and switching behavior obtained in the simulations can be interpreted from the point of view of the preference of states with the minimal total losses.     

High-power sub-10-fs Ti:sapphire oscillators

Received: 10 March 1997/Revised version: 16 April 1997     

Deep levels in low‐energy electron‐irradiated 4H‐SiC

Deep levels introduced by low‐energy (200 keV) electron irradiation in n‐type 4H‐SiC epitaxial layers grown by chemical vapour deposition were studied by deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and photoexcitation electron paramagnetic resonance (photo‐EPR). After irradiation, several DLTS levels, EH1, EH3, Z_1/2, EH5 and EH6/7, often reported in irradiated 4H‐SiC, were observed. In irradiated freestanding films from the same wafer, the EPR signals of the carbon vacancy in the positive and negative charge states, V_C⁺ and V_C^‐, respectively, can be observed simultaneously under illumination with light of certain photon energies. Comparing the ionization energies obtained from DLTS and photo‐EPR, we suggest that the EH6/7 (at ～E_C – 1.6 eV) and EH5 (at ～E_C – 1.0 eV) electron traps may be related to the single donor (+ | 0) and the double acceptor (1– | 2–) level of V_C, respectively. Judging from the relative intensity of the DLTS signals, the EH6/7 level may also be contributed to by other unidentified defects. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Optical and ESR studies on Fe doped ZnS nanocrystals

Zn_1 − xFe_xS (x=0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6) nanocrystals have been obtained by chemical co-precipitation from homogeneous solutions of zinc and iron salt compounds, with S²⁻ as precipitating anion formed by decomposition of thiophenol. The TEM micrographs show a spherical shape for ZnS nanocrystals and their average size is around 7 nm. The optical absorption spectra indicate a blue shift of the absorption edge with increasing Fe-content. The luminescence of nanoparticles excite at about 370 nm with an emission peak at around 490 nm. At room temperature, ESR signal characteristic of Fe³⁺ was observed in samples of all concentrations.     

Effects of cross-correlation between the real and imaginary parts of the quantum noise in a two-mode saturation laser system

A two-mode saturation laser model with cross-correlation between the real and imaginary parts of the quantum noise is considered. The laser intensity Langevin equation and corresponding Fokker-Planck equation are derived by the phase-locking method. The effects of the cross-correlation strength λ between the real and imaginary parts of quantum noise and the cavity decay constant K on the steady-state intensity distribution Q(I₁,I₂), the mean light intensity 〈I〉, the normalization autocorrelation λ₁₁(0) and cross correlation λ₁₂(0) are studied by numerical calculation. The results show that as λ increases the Qs(I₁,I₂) show two extrema, and λ almost does not affect the 〈I〉, λ₁₁(0) and λ₁₂(0) when the laser system is operated far above threshold. Nevertheless, when the laser system is operated at and below threshold, λ makes the curves of Qs(I₁,I₂) have the higher peak and drop faster. Furthermore, it enhances the deviation of λ₁₁(0) and λ₁₂(0) and lessens the mean light intensity 〈I〉 when the laser system is operated at and below threshold.