Electronic Properties of Nonstoichiometric PbSe Quantum Dots from First Principles

One-Hundred Talent Plan of the Chinese Academy of Sciences；National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars 60925016；National High Technology Research and Development program of China 2009AA034101

Depolarization blueshift in intersubband transitions of triangular quantum wires

Major State Basic Research Project 973 program of China 2006CB604907;National Science Foundation of China 60776015 60976008;863 High Technology R&D Program of China 2007AA03Z402

Design and characteristics of quantum cascade laser-based CO detection system

National High Technology Research and Development Program of China 2007AA03Z112；Program of Ministry of Education of China 20060183030；Program of Jilin Provincial Science and Technology Department of China 20070709；Program of Bureau of Science and Technology of Changchun City 2007107

Si-based optoelectronic devices and their attractive applications

The semiconductor photonics and optoelectronics which have a great significance in the development of advanced high technology of information systems will be discussed in this paper. The emphasis will be put on the recent research carried out in our laboratory in enhanced luminescence from low dimensional materials such as SiGe/Si and Er-doped Si-rich SiO2/Si and Er-doped SixNy/Si. A ring shape waveguide structure, used to promote the effective absorption coefficient in PIN photodetector for 1.3 mu m wavelength and a resonant cavity enhanced structure, used to improve the quantum efficiency and response in heterostructure photo-transistor (HPT), are also proposed in this paper.

Comparative study of the surface passivation on crystalline silicon by silicon thin films with different structures

Si thin films with different structures were deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), and characterized via Raman spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The passivation effect of such different Si thin films on crystalline Si surface was investigated by minority carrier lifetime measurement via a method, called microwave photoconductive decay (mu PCD), for the application in HIT (heterojunction with intrinsic thin-layer) solar cells. The results show that amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) has a better passivation effect due to its relative higher H content, compared with microcrystalline (mu c-Si) silicon and nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si). Further, it was found that H atoms in the form of Si-H bonds are more preferred than those in the form of Si-H-2 bonds to passivate the crystalline Si surface. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy Growth of Semipolar, 10(1)over-bar(3)over-barGaN on Patterned m-Plane Sapphire

We have investigated the hydride vapor-phase epitaxy growth of (10 (1) over bar(3) over bar)-oriented GaN thick films on patterned sapphire substrates (PSSs) (10 (1) over bar0). From characterization by atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, double-crystal X-ray diffraction, and photoluminescence (PL), it is determined that the crystalline and optical qualities of (10 (1) over bar(3) over bar) GaN epilayers grown on the cylindrical PSS are better than those on the flat sapphire. However, two main crystalline orientations (10 (1) over bar(3) over bar) and (11 (2) over bar2) dominate the GaN epilayers grown on the pyramidal PSS, demonstrating poor quality. After etching in the mixed acids, these (10 (1) over bar(3) over bar) GaN films are dotted with oblique pyramids, concurrently lining along the < 30 (3) over bar2 > direction, indicative of a typical N-polarity characteristic. Defect-related optical transitions of the (10 (1) over bar(3) over bar) GaN epilayers are identified and detailedly discussed in virtue of the temperature-dependent PL. In particular, an anomalous blueshift-redshift transition appears with an increase in temperature for the broad blue luminescence due to the thermal activation of the shallow level.

A novel photonic crystal vertical cavity surface emitting laser based on coherent coupling

We demonstrate a novel oxide confined GaAs-based photonic crystal vertical cavity surface emitting laser (PC-VCSEL) operating at a wavelength of 850 nm based on coherent coupling. A ring-shaped light-emitting aperture is added to the conventional PC-VCSEL, and coherent coupling is achieved between the central defect aperture and the ring-shaped light-emitting aperture. Measurements show that under the continuous-wave (CW) injected current of 20 mA, a high power of 2 mW is obtained, and the side mode suppression ratio (SMSR) is larger than 20 dB. The average divergence angle is 4.2 degrees at the current level of 20 mA. Compared with the results ever reported, the divergence angle is reduced.

Slow Light Effect and Multimode Lasing in a Photonic Crystal Waveguide Microlaser

The slow light effect in a photonic crystal waveguide is investigated theoretically and experimentally. Theoretical calculation indicates that there is a slow light region for the even mode, from which the resonance and lasing in a microcavity would benefit. A photonic crystal waveguide microlaser is fabricated, which is related to the group velocity of c/120.6.

Control of the photonic crystal waveguide over the beam profile of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

The control of the photonic crystal waveguide over the beam profile of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers is investigated. The symmetric slab waveguide model is adopted to analyze the control parameters, of the beam profile in the photonic-crystal vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (PC-VCSEL). The filling factor (the ratio of the hole diameter to the lattice constant) and the etching depth control the divergence angle of the PC-VCSEL, and the low filling factor and the shallow etching depth are beneficial to achieve the low-divergence-angle beam. Two types of PC-VCSELs with different filling factors and etching depths are designed and fabricated. The experimental results show that the device with a lower filling factor and a shallower etching depth has a lower divergence angle, which agrees well with the theoretical predictions.

Single-mode holey vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser with ultra-narrow beam divergence

We demonstrated oxide-confined 850-nm vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) with a two-dimensional petal-shaped holey structure composed of several annular-sector-shaped holes. Four types of devices with different hole numbers were designed and fabricated. The measured results showed that the larger hole number was beneficial to purifying the lasing mode, and realizing the single-mode operation. The side mode suppression ratio (SMSR) exceeded 30 dB throughout the entire drive current. Mode selective loss mechanism was used to explain the single-mode characteristic. The single-mode devices possessed good beam profiles, and the lowest divergence angle was as narrow as 3.2 degrees (full width at half maximum), attributed to the graded index profile and the shallow etching in the top distributed Bragg reflector (DBR).

Phase-locked ring-defect photonic crystal vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser

Phase-locked oxide-confined ring-defect photonic crystal vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser is presented. The coupled-mode theory is employed to illustrate the two supermodes of the device, in-phase and out-of-phase supermode. Experimental results verify the two supermodes by the characteristics of the spectra and the far field patterns. At the lower current, only the out-of-phase supermode is excited, whereas under the higher current, the in-phase supermode also appears at the shorter wavelength range. In addition, the measured spectral separation between the two supermodes agrees well with the theoretical result.

Period Continuous Tuning of an Efficient Mid-Infrared Optical Parametric Oscillator Based on a Fan-out Periodically Poled MgO-Doped Lithium Niobate

We report a period continuously tunable, efficient, mid-infrared optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on a fan-out periodically poled MgO-doped congruent lithium niobate (PPMgLN). The OPO is pumped by a Nd:YAG laser and a maximum idler output average power of 1.65 W at 3.93 mu m is obtained with a pump average power of 10.5 W, corresponding to the conversion efficiency of about 16% from the pump to the idler. The output spectral properties of the OPO with the fan-out crystal are analyzed. The OPO is continuously tuned over 3.78-4.58 mu m (idler) when fan-out periods are changed from 27.0 to 29.4 mu m. Compared with temperature tuning, fan-out period continuous tuning has faster tuning rate and wider tuning range.

Range-Gated Laser Stroboscopic Imaging for Night Remote Surveillance

For night remote surveillance, we present a method, the range-gated laser stroboscopic imaging(RGLSI), which uses a new kind of time delay integration mode to integrate target signals so that night remote surveillance can be realized by a low-energy illuminated laser. The time delay integration in this method has no influence on the video frame rate. Compared with the traditional range-gated laser imaging, RGLSI can reduce scintillation and target speckle effects and significantly improve the image signal-to-noise ratio analyzed. Even under low light level and low visibility conditions, the RGLSI system can effectively work. In a preliminary experiment, we have detected and recognized a railway bridge one kilometer away under a visibility of six kilometers, when the effective illuminated energy is 29.5 mu J.

Effects of annealing treatment on the formation of CO2 in ZnO thin films grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition

Post-growth annealing was carried out on ZnO thin films grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The grain size of ZnO thin film increases monotonically with annealing temperature. The ZnO thin films were preferential to c-axis oriented after annealing as confirmed by Xray diffraction (XRD) measurements. Fourier transformation infrared transmission measurements showed that ZnO films grown at low temperature contains CO2 molecules after post-growth annealing. A two-step reaction process has been proposed to explain the formation mechanism of CO2, which indicates the possible chemical reaction processes during the metal-organic chemical vapor deposition of ZnO films.

Temperature-dependent modulation characteristics for 1.3 mu m InAs/GaAs quantum dot lasers

Temperature-dependent modulation characteristics of 1.3 mu m InAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) lasers under small signals have been carefully studied at various bias currents. Based on experimental observations, it is found that the modulation bandwidth significantly increases when excited state (ES) lasing emerges at high temperature. This is attributed to additional photons emitted by ES lasing which contribute to the modulation response. A rate equation model including two discrete electron energy levels and the level of wetting layer has been used to investigate the temperature-dependent dynamic behavior of the QD lasers. Numerical investigations confirm that the significant jump for the small signal modulation response is indeed caused by ES photons. Furthermore, we identify how the electron occupation probabilities of the two discrete energy levels can influence the photon density of different states and finally the modulation rate. Both experiments and numerical analysis show that the modulation bandwidth of QD lasers at high temperature can be increased by injecting more carriers into the ES that has larger electron state degeneracy and faster carrier's relaxation time than the ground state.