Conduction band offset and electron effective mass in GaInNAs/GaAs quantum-well structures with low nitrogen concentration

We have investigated the optical transitions in Ga1-yInyNxAs1-x/GaAs single and multiple quantum wells using photovoltaic measurements at room temperature. From a theoretical fit to the experimental data, the conduction band offset Q(c), electron effective mass m(e)*, and band gap energy E-g were estimated. It was found that the Q(c) is dependent on the indium concentration, but independent on the nitrogen concentration over the range x=(0-1)%. The m(e)* of GaInNAs is much greater than that of InGaAs with the same concentration of indium, and increases as the nitrogen concentration increases up to 1%. Our experimental results for the m(e)* and E-g of GaInNAs are quantitatively explained by the two-band model based on the strong interaction of the conduction band minimum with the localized N states. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Strain relaxation of GeSi alloy with low dislocation density grown on low-temperature Si buffers

We have developed a low-temperature (LT) growth technique. Even with Ge fraction x upto 90%, the total thickness of fully relaxed GexSi1-x buffers can he reduced to 1.7 mu m with dislocation density lower than 5 x 10(6) cm(-2). The surface roughness is no more than 6 nm. The strain relaxation is quite inhomogeneous From the beginning. Stacking faults generate and form the mismatch dislocations in the interface of GeSi/LT-Si. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Broadband external cavity tunable quantum dot lasers with low injection current density

Broadband grating-coupled external cavity laser, based on InAs/GaAs quantum dots, is achieved. The device has a wavelength tuning range from 1141.6 nm to 1251.7 nm under a low continuous-wave injection current density (458 A/cm(2)). The tunable bandwidth covers consecutively the light emissions from both the ground state and the 1st excited state of quantum dots. The effects of cavity length and antireflection facet coating on device performance are studied. It is shown that antireflection facet coating expands the tuning bandwidth up to similar to 150 nm, accompanied by an evident increase in threshold current density, which is attributed to the reduced interaction between the light field and the quantum dots in the active region of the device.

A 10-bit 50-MS/s sample-and-hold circuit with low distortion sampling switches

A fully-differential switched-capacitor sample-and-hold (S/H) circuit used in a 10-bit 50-MS/s pipeline analog-to-digital converter (ADC) was designed and fabricated using a 0.35-μm CMOS process. Capacitor fliparound architecture was used in the S/H circuit to lower the power consumption. In addition, a gain-boosted operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) was designed with a DC gain of 94 dB and a unit gain bandwidth of 460 MHz at a phase margin of 63 degree, which matches the S/H circuit. A novel double-side bootstrapped switch was used, improving the precision of the whole circuit. The measured results have shown that the S/H circuit reaches a spurious free dynamic range (SFDR) of 67 dB and a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 62.1 dB for a 2.5 MHz input signal with 50 MS/s sampling rate. The 0.12 mm~2 S/H circuit operates from a 3.3 V supply and consumes 13.6 mW.

A High-Efficiency Fiber-to-Waveguide Coupler with Low Polarization Dependence Using a Diluted Waveguide in InP Substrate with a 1.55μm Wavelength

We propose a fiber-to-waveguide coupler for side-illuminated p-i-n photodiodes to obtain high responsivity and low polarization dependence that is grown on InP substrate and is suitable for surface hybrid integration in low cost modules. The fiber-to-waveguide coupler is based on a diluted waveguide,which is composed of ten periods of undoped 120nm InP/80nm InGaAsP （1.05μm bandgap） multiple layers. Using the semi-vectorial three dimensional beam propagation method （BPM） with the central difference scheme,the coupling efficiency of fiber-to-waveguide under different conditions is simulated and studied,and the optimized conditions for fiber-to-waveguide coupling are obtained. For TE-like and TM-like modes,the calculated maximum coupling efficiency is higher than 94% and 92% ,respectively. The calculated polarization dependence is less than 0. ldB,showing good polarization independence.

Contrastive study of two SESAMs for passive mode-locking in Nd:YVC>4 laser with low pump power

Two semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors (SESAMs), of which one is coated with 50% reflection film on the top and the other is not, were contrastively studied in passively mode-locked solid-state lasers which were pumped by low output power laser diode (LD). Experiments have shown that reducing the modulation depth of SESAM by coating partial reflection film, whose reflectivity is higher than that between SESAM and air interface, is an effective method to get continuous wave (CW) mode-locking instead of Q-switched mode-locking (QML) in low power pumped solid-state lasers. A simple Nd:YVO4 laser pumped by low power LD, in which no water-cooling system was used, could obtain CW mode-locking by the 50% reflector coated SESAM with average output power of ~ 20 mW

800nm Semiconductor Absorber with Low Temperature Method and Surface State Method Combined Absorber for Kerr Lens Modelocking of Ti∶Al2O3 Laser

A novel 800nm Bragg mirror type of semiconductor saturable absorption mirror with low temperature method and surface state method combined absorber is presented.With which passive Kerr lens mode locking of Ti∶Al2O3 laser pumped by argon ion laser is realized,which produces pulses as short as 40fs.The spectrum bandwidth is 56nm,which means that it can support the modelocking of 20fs.The pulse frequency is 97.5MHz;average output power is 300mW at the pump power of 4.45W.

A Single Mode 980nm InGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs Large Optical Cavity Quantum Well Laser with Low Vertical Divergence Angle

To achieve high optical power as well as low vertical divergence angle, a new kind of optimized large optical cavity (LOC) structure is applied to a ridge waveguide 980nm InGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs multi-quantum well laser. The optical power density in the waveguide is successfully reduced. The maximum output power is more than 400mW with a slope efficiency of 0.89W/A and the far-field vertical divergence angle is lowered to 23°.

Strain relaxation of GeSi alloy with low dislocation density grown on low-temperature Si buffers

We have developed a low-temperature (LT) growth technique. Even with Ge fraction x upto 90%, the total thickness of fully relaxed GexSi1-x buffers can he reduced to 1.7 mu m with dislocation density lower than 5 x 10(6) cm(-2). The surface roughness is no more than 6 nm. The strain relaxation is quite inhomogeneous From the beginning. Stacking faults generate and form the mismatch dislocations in the interface of GeSi/LT-Si. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

An Ameliorated Phase Generated Carrier Demodulation Algorithm With Low Harmonic Distortion and High Stability

A novel ameliorated phase generated carrier (PGC) demodulation algorithm based on arctangent function and differential-self-multiplying (DSM) is proposed in this paper. The harmonic distortion due to nonlinearity and the stability with light intensity disturbance (LID) are investigated both theoretically and experimentally. The nonlinearity of the PGC demodulation algorithm has been analyzed and an analytical expression of the total-harmonic-distortion (THD) has been derived. Experimental results have confirmed the low harmonic distortion of the ameliorated PGC algorithm as expected by the theoretical analysis. Compared with the traditional PGC-arctan and PGC-DCM algorithm, the ameliorated PGC algorithm has a much lower THD as well as a better signal-to-noise-and-distortion (SINAD). A THD of below 0.1% and a SINAD of 60 dB have been achieved with PGC modulation depth (value) ranges from 1.5 to 3.5 rad. The stability performance with LID has also been studied. The ameliorated PGC algorithm has a much higher stability than the PGC-DCM algorithm. It can keep stable operations with LID depth as large as 26.5 dB and LID frequency as high as 1 kHz. The system employing the ameliorated PGC demodulation algorithm has a minimum detectable phase shift of 5 mu rad/root Hz @ 1 kHz, a large dynamic range of 120 dB @ 100 Hz, and a high linearity of better than 99.99%.

Fabrication of Novel Superhydrophobic Surfaces and Water Droplet Bouncing Behavior - Part 1: Stable ZnO-PDMS Superhydrophobic Surface with Low Hysteresis Constructed Using ZnO Nanoparticles

A superhydrophobic surface has many advantages in micro/nanomechanical applications, such as low adhesion, low friction and high restitution coefficient, etc. In this paper, we introduce a novel and simple route to fabricate superhydrophobic surfaces using ZnO nanocrystals. First, tetrapod-like ZnO nanocrystals were prepared via a one-step, direct chemical vapor deposition (CVD) approach. The nanostructured ZnO material was characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) and the surface functionalized by aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APS) was found to be hydrophobic. Then the superhydrophobic surface was constructed by depositing uniformly ZnO hydrophobic nanoparticles (HNPs) on the Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) film substrate. Water wettability study revealed a contact angle of 155.4 +/- 2 degrees for the superhydrophobic surface while about 110 degrees for pure smooth PDMS films. The hysteresis was quite low, only 3.1 +/- 0.3 degrees. Microscopic observations showed that the surface was covered by micro- and nano-scale ZnO particles. Compared to other approaches, this method is rather convenient and can be used to obtain a large area superhydrophobic surface. The high contact angle and low hysteresis could be attributed to the micro/nano structures of ZnO material; besides, the superhydrophobic property of the as-constructed ZnO-PDMS surface could be maintained for at least 6 months. (C) Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2010

Alleviation of pre-exposure of mouse brain with low-dose C-12(6+) ion or Co-60 gamma-ray on male reproductive endocrine damages induced by subsequent high-dose irradiation

Irradiation has been widely reported to damage organisms by attacking on proteins, nucleic acid and lipids in cells. However, radiation hormesis after low-dose irradiation has become the focus of research in radiobiology in recent years. To investigate the effects of pre-exposure of mouse brain with low-dose C-12(6+) ion or Co-60 gamma (gamma)-ray on male reproductive endocrine capacity induced by subsequent high-dose irradiation, the brains of the B6C3F(1) hybrid strain male mice were irradiated with 0.05 Gy of C-12(6+) ion or Co-60 gamma-ray as the pre-exposure dose, and were then irradiated with 2 Gy as challenging irradiation dose at 4 h after pre-exposure. Serum pituitary gonadotropin hormones, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), testosterone, testis weight, sperm count and shape were measured on the 35th day after irradiation. The results showed that there was a significant reduction in the levels of serum FSH, LH, testosterone, testis weight and sperm count, and a significant increase in sperm abnormalities by irradiation of the mouse brain with 2 Gy of C-12(6+) ion or Co-60 gamma-ray. Moreover, the effects were more obvious in the group irradiated by C-12(6+) ion than in that irradiated by Co-60 gamma-ray. Pre-exposure with low-dose C-12(6+) ion or Co-60 gamma-ray significantly alleviated the harmful effects induced by a subsequent high-dose irradiation.