Ultrafast Kerr rotations and zero-field dephasing time of electron spins in InAs/GaAs quantum disks

Time-resolved Kerr rotation (TRKR) measurements based on pump-probe arrangement were carried out at 5 K on the monolayer fluctuation induced InAs/GaAs quantum disks grown on GaAs substrate without external magnetic field. The lineshape of TRKR signals shows an unusual dependence on the excitation wavelength, especially antisymmetric step-shaped structures appearing when the excitation wavelength was resonantly scanned over the heavy- and light-hole subbands. Moreover, these step structures possess an almost identical decay time of similar to 40 Ps which is believed to be the characteristic spin dephasing time of electrons in the extremely narrow InAs/GaAs quantum disks.

Evaluation of both composition and strain distributions in InGaN epitaxial film using x-ray diffraction techniques

The composition and stain distributions in the InGaN epitaxial films are jointly measured by employing various x-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques, including out-of-plane XRD at special planes, in-plane grazing incidence XRD, and reciprocal space mapping (RSM). It is confirmed that the measurement of (204) reflection allows a rapid access to estimate the composition without considering the influence of biaxial strain. The two-dimensional RSM checks composition and degree of strain relaxation jointly, revealing an inhomogeneous strain distribution profile along the growth direction. As the film thickness increases from 100 nm to 450 nm, the strain status of InGaN films gradually transfers from almost fully strained to fully relaxed state and then more in atoms incorporate into the film, while the near-interface region of InGaN films remains pseudomorphic to GaN.

Room-Temperature Continuous-Wave Operation of InGaN-Based Blue-Violet Laser Diodes with a Lifetime of 15.6 Hours

We report our recent progress of investigations on InGaN-based blue-violet laser diodes (LDs). The room-temperature (RT) cw operation lifetime of LDs has extended to longer than 15.6 h. The LD structure was grown on a c-plane free-standing (FS) GaN substrate by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The typical threshold current and voltage of LD under RT cw operation are 78 mA and 6.8 V, respectively. The experimental analysis of degradation of LD performances suggests that after aging treatment, the increase of series resistance and threshold current can be mainly attributed to the deterioration of p-type ohmic contact and the decrease of internal quantum efficiency of multiple quantum well (MQW), respectively.

Abnormal photoabsorption in high resistance GaN epilayer

Unintentionally doped GaN epilayers are grown by the metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Photovoltaic (PV) spectroscopy shows that there appears an abnormal photoabsorption in some undoped GaN films with high resistance. The peak energy of the absorption spectrum is smaller than the intrinsic energy band gap of GaN. This phenomenon may be related to exciton absorption. Then metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) Schottky photodetectors are fabricated on these high resistance epilayers. The photo spectrum responses are different when the light individually irradiates each of the two electrodes with the photodetector which are differently biased. When the excitation light irradiates around the reverse biased Schottky junction, the responsivity is almost one order of magnitude larger than that around the forward biased junction. Furthermore, when the excitation light irradiates the reverse biased Schottky junction, the peak energy of the spectrum has a prominent red-shift compared with the peak energy of the spectrum measured with the excitation light irradiating the forward biased Schottky junction. The shift value is about 28 meV, and it is found to be insensitive to temperature. According to the analyses of the distribution of the electric field within the MSM device and the different dependences of the response on the electric field intensity between the free carriers and excitons, a reliable explanation for the different response among various areas is proposed.

KINEMATICAL STUDY OF GEXSI1-X/SI STRAINED-LAYER SUPERLATTICE BY A DOUBLE CRYSTAL X-RAY-DIFFRACTION METHOD

Two samples of nominal 20-period Ge0.20Si0.80(5 nm)/Si(25 nm) and Ge0.5Si0.5(5 nm)/Si(25 nm) strained-layer superlattices (SLSs) were studied by the double-crystal X-ray diffraction method. It is convenient to define the perpendicular strains relative to the average crystal. Computer simulations of the rocking curves were performed using a kinematical step model. An excellent agreement between the measured and simulated satellite patterns is achieved. The dependence of the sensitivity of the rocking curves to the structural parameters of the SLS, such as the alloying concentration x and the layer thicknesses and the L component of the reflection g = (HKL), are clearly demonstrated.

CONVERGENT-BEAM ELECTRON-DIFFRACTION STUDY OF GE0.5SI0.5/SI STRAINED-LAYER SUPERLATTICES GROWN BY MOLECULAR-BEAM EPITAXY

Side bands due to purely composition and combined composition-strain modulation in plan-view specimens of a nominally Ge0.5Si0.5(5nm)/Si(25nm) superlattice have been obtained by large-angle convergent-beam electron diffraction. The intensities of the side bands have been calculated from a periodic tension-compression model of the superlattice bilayer using the kinematical theory of electron diffraction. Accurate values of elastic strains in the bilayer and of the Ge content can be obtained in this way.

Structures of energy spectrum and persistent currents in mesoscopic rings with radial potential barrier in magnetic field

The energy spectrum and the persistent currents are calculated for finite-width mesoscopic annular structures with radial potential barrier in the presence of a magnetic field. The introduction of the tunneling barrier leads to the creation of extra edge states around the barrier and the occurrence of oscillatory structures superimposed on the bulk Landau level plateaus in the energy spectrum. We found that the Fermi energy E-F increases with the number of electrons N emerging many kinks. The single eigenstate persistent current exhibits complicated structures with vortex-like texture, ''bifurcation'', and multiple ''furcation'' patterns as N is increased. The total currents versus N display wild fluctuations.

Electronic states and magnetotransport in quantum waveguides with nonuniform magnetic fields

The electronic states and magnetotransport properties of quantum waveguides (QW's) in the presence of nonuniform magnetic fields perpendicular to the QW plane are investigated theoretically. It is found that the magnetoconductance of those structures as a function of Fermi energy exhibits stepwise variation or square-wave-like oscillations, depending on the specific distributions (both in magnitude and direction) of nonuniform magnetic fields in QW's. We have investigated the dual magnetic strip structures and three magnetic strip structures. The character of the magnetotransport is closely related to the effective magnetic potential and the energy-dispersion spectrum of electron in the structures. It is found that dispersion relations seem to be combined by different sets of dispersion curves that belong to different individual magnetic subwaveguides. The magnetic effective potential leads to the coupling of states and the substantial distortion of the original dispersion curves at the interfaces in which the abrupt change of magnetic fields appears. Magnetic scattering states are created. Only in some three magnetic strip structures, these scattering states produce the dispersion relations with oscillation structures superimposed on the bulk Landau levels. It is the oscillatory behavior in dispersions that leads to the occurrence of square-wave-like modulations in conductance.

Microcrystalline silicon films and tandem solar cells prepared by triode PECVD

This paper investigates the effects of the diphasic structure on the optoelectronic properties of hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (mu c-Si:H) films prepared in a triode three-chamber plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system. The influences of boron-compensation doping on the dark-and photo-conductivity of mu c-Si:H films are also described. A tandem solar cell with an entirely mu c-Si:H p-i-n bottom cell and an a-Si:H top cell has been prepared with an initial conversion efficiency of 8.91% (0.126 cm(2), AM1.5, 100 mW/cm(2)).

Polycrystalline silicon thin films and solar cells prepared by rapid thermal CVD

Polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) films(similar to 10 mu m) were grown from dichlorosilane by a rapid thermal chemical vapor deposition (RTCVD) technique, with a growth rate up to 100 Angstrom/s at the substrate temperature (T-s) of 1030 degrees C. The average grain size and carrier mobility of the films were found to be dependent on the substrate temperature and material. By using the poly-Si films, the first model pn(+) junction solar cell without anti-reflecting (AR) coating has been prepared on an unpolished heavily phosphorus-doped Si wafer, with an energy conversion efficiency of 4.54% (AM 1.5, 100 mW/cm(2), 1 cm(2)).

The scattering matrix method for quantum waveguides

A scattering matrix method for investigating the electron transport in quantum waveguides is presented. By dividing the structure into a number of transverse slices, the global scattering matrix is obtained by the composition of the individual scattering matrices associated with each interface. Complicated geometries and inhomogeneous external potentials are included in the formulation. It is shown that the proposed scattering matrix method possesses many advantages over the traditional mode-matching and transfer matrix methods, especially in treating the electron wave propagation in complicated geometries. Justification for the method is provided by the unitarity of the calculated scattering matrix, and the consistency of the results with those obtained by the recursive Green's function method.

Quantum coherent networks: A theoretical study

Electron transport in quantum coherent networks (interacting quantum waveguide arrays) is investigated theoretically with use of the scattering-matrix method. The scattering matrix for the basic unit of networks, the cross junction with Square or rounded corners, is derived using the mode-matching technique, The overall scattering matrix for the network is obtained by the composition of the scattering matrices associated with each unit of the network, For a uniform network, the transmission spectra are calculated in the single-mode regime and an found notably dependent on the junction geometry. Small reflection for the input terminal and uniform output for some output ports are obtained, which means that the quantum coherent network can be used as a distributing net for the electron waves. Cross junctions with rounded corners of large radii are found to play a negative role in the device application of quantum coherent networks. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.

Quantum dot superlattices and their conductance

The one-dimensional energy bands and corresponding conductivities of a T-shaped quantum-dot superlattice are studied in various cases: different periods, with potential barriers between dots, and in transverse electric fields. It is found that the conductivity of the superlattices has a similar energy relation to the conductance of a single quantum dot, but vanishes in the energy gap region. The energy band of a superlattice with periodically modulated conducting width in the perpendicular magnetic field is calculated for comparison with magneto-transport experiments. It is found that due to the edge state effect the electron has strong quantum transport features. The energy gaps change with the width of the channel, corresponding to the deep peaks in the conductance curve. This method of calculating the energy bands of quantum-dot superlattices is applicable to complex geometric structures without substantial difficulty. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.

Suppression of ballistic electron transmission through a semiconductor II-structure by an external transverse electric field

We have conducted numerical studies of ballistic electron transport in a semiconductor II-structure when an external transverse electric field is applied. The device conductance as a function of electron energy and the strength of the transverse electric field is calculated on the basis of tight-binding Green's function formalism. The calculations show that a relatively weak electric field can induce very large decrease in the electron transmission across the structure. When the transverse electric field is sufficiently strong, electrons can hardly be transported through the device. Thus the performance of the device can be greatly improved for it is much easier to control electron transport through the device with an external transverse electric field.

Numerical simulation of quantum directional couplers

A numerical analysis of a quantum directional coupler based on Pi-shaped electron waveguides is presented with use of the scattering-matrix method. After the optimization of the device parameters, uniform output for the two output ports and high directivity are obtained within a wide range of the electron momenta. The electron transfer in the device is found more efficient than that in the previously proposed structures. The study of the shape-dependence of transmission for the device shows that the device structure with smooth boundaries exhibits a much better performance.