40-Gb/s Low Chirp Electroabsorption Modulator Integrated With DFB Laser

A 40-Gb/s monolithically integrated transmitter containing an InGaAsP multiple-quantum-well electroabsorption modulator (EAM) with lumped electrode and a distributed-feedback semiconductor laser is demonstrated. Superior characteristics are exhibited for the device, such as low threshold current of 20 mA, over 40-dB sidemode suppression ratio at 1550 nm, and more than 30-dB dc extinction ratio when coupled into a single-mode fiber. By adopting a deep ridge waveguide and planar electrode structures combined with buried benzocyclobutene, the capacitance of the EAM is reduced to 0.18 pF and the small-signal modulation bandwidth exceeds 33 GHz. Negative chirp operation is also realized when the bias voltage is beyond 1.6 V.

Electron tunneling through a planar single barrier in HgTe quantum wells with inverted band structures

We present a theoretical study on the electron tunneling through a single barrier created in a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) and quantum spin Hall (QSH) bar in a HgTe/CdTe quantum well with inverted band structures. For the 2DEG, the transmission shows the Fabry-Perot resonances for the interband tunneling process and is blocked when the incident energy lies in the bulk gap of the barrier region. For the QSH bar, the transmission gap is reduced to the edge gap caused by the finite size effect. Instead, transmission dips appear due to the interference between the edge states and the bound states originated from the bulk states. Such a Fano-like resonance leads to a sharp dip in the transmission which can be observed experimentally.

Resonant tunneling theory of planar quantum dot structures

The ballistic transport in the semiconductor, planar, circular quantum dot structures is studied theoretically. The transmission probabilities show apparent resonant tunneling peaks, which correspond to energies of bound states in the dot. By use of structures with different angles between the inject and exit channels, the resonant peaks can be identified very effectively. The perpendicular magnetic field has obvious effect on the energies of bound states in the quantum dot, and thus the resonant peaks. The treatment of the boundary conditions simplifies the problem to the solution of a set of linear algebraic equations. The theoretical results in this paper can be used to design planar resonant tunneling devices, whose resonant peaks are adjustable by the angle between the inject and exit channels and the applied magnetic field. The resonant tunneling in the circular dot structures can also be used to study the bound states in the absence and presence of magnetic field.

SCATTERING AND RESONANT-TUNNELING THEORY FOR A CYLINDRICAL WELL IN PLANAR STRUCTURES

A two-dimensional atomic scattering theory is developed for scattering of electrons by a circularly symmetric quantum structure in the two-dimensional electron gas. It is found that the scattering cross section oscillates as a function of ka where k is the electron wave vector and a is the radius of the cylindrical potential barrier. If there is a quantum well inside the potential barrier, there appears a series of sharp resonant-tunneling peaks superposed on the original scattering-cross-section curves. The width of the resonant-tunneling peak depends sensitively on the thickness, the height of the potential barrier, and the electron energy.

The formation and electronic structures of 3d transition-metal atoms doped in silicon nanowires

Using first-principles methods, we systematically study the mechanism of defect formation and electronic structures for 3d transition-metal impurities (V, Cr, Mn, Fe, and Co) doped in silicon nanowires. We find that the formation energies of 3d transition-metal impurities with electrons or holes at the defect levels always increase as the diameters of silicon nanowires decrease, which suggests that self-purification, i.e., the difficulty of doping in silicon nanowires, should be an intrinsic effect. The calculated results show that the defect formation energies of Mn and Fe impurities are lower than those of V, Cr, and Co impurities in silicon nanowires. It indicates that Mn and Fe can easily occupy substitutional site in the interior of silicon nanowires. Moreover, they have larger localized moments, which means that they are good candidates for Si-based dilute magnetic semiconductor nanowires. The doping of Mn and Fe atom in silicon nanowires introduces a pair of energy levels with t(2) symmetry. One of which is dominated by 3d electrons of Mn or Fe, and the other by neighboring dangling bonds of Si vacancies. In addition, a set of nonbonding states localized on the transition-metal atom with e symmetry is also introduced. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.3000445]

Planar refractive microlens arrays in indium phosphide and quartz substrates

Large-area concave refractive microlens arrays, or concave template structures, and then the non-refractive-index-gradient type of planar refractive microlens arrays in InP and quartz substrates, are fabricated utilizing the method consisting of conventional UV photolithography, thermal shaping of concave photoresist microlenses, etching with an argon ion beam of large diameter, and filling or growing optical medium structures onto the curved surfaces of preshaped concave templates. Several key conditions for fabricating concave and also planar microlenses are discussed in detail. The concave structures obtained are characterized by scanning electron microscope and surface profile measurements. The far-field optical characteristics of quartz/ZrO2 planar refractive microlens arrays have been acquired experimentally. (c) 2008 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

Electronic structures and mechanical properties of uranium monocarbide from first-principles LDA plus U and GGA plus U calculations

The electronic structure, elastic constants, Poisson's ratio, and phonon dispersion curves of UC have been systematically investigated from the first-principles calculations by the projector-augmented-wave (PAW) method. In order to describe precisely the strong on-site Coulomb repulsion among the localized U 5f electrons, we adopt the local density approximation (LDA) + U and generalized gradient approximation (GGA) + U formalisms for the exchange correlation term. We systematically study how the electronic properties and elastic constants of UC are affected by the different choice of U as well as the exchange-correlation potential. We show that by choosing an appropriate Hubbard U parameter within the GGA + U approach, most of our calculated results are in good agreement with the experimental data. Therefore. the results obtained by the GGA + U with effective Hubbard parameter U chosen around 3 eV for UC are considered to be reasonable. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Exciton localization in In0.15Ga0.85As/GaAs quantum wire structures grown on (553)B-oriented GaAs substrate

Using time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) measurements, we have studied the exciton localization effect in InGaAs/GaAs quantum wire (QWR) structures formed in corrugated narrow InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells (QWs) grown on (553)B GaAs substrate. The PL decay time in the QWR structure was found to be independent of the temperature for T < 70 K, showing a typical dynamical behavior of the localized excitons. This result is in striking contrast to the corresponding quantum well structures, where a linear increase of the PL decay time was observed. In addition, an increase of the exciton lifetime was observed at low temperature for the QWR structure as compared to a reference InGaAs/GaAs quantum well sample (1200 vs 400 ps). The observed longer decay time was attributed to the reduction in the spatial coherence of excitons in the QWR-like structure. In PL measurements, a significant polarization anisotropy was also found in our narrow InGaAs/GaAs QWs grown on (553)B GaAs. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.

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.

Oscillatory magneto-conductance in quantum waveguides with lateral multi-barrier structures

The magneto-transport properties of a narrow quantum waveguide with lateral multibarrier modulation are investigated theoretically. It is found that the magnetoconductance as a function of Fermi energy or magnetic field exhibits square-wave-like oscillations. In the presence of magnetic field, the edge states are formed near each barrier and the boundaries. Therefore, the number of edge states increases with the number of lateral barriers, leading to the increase of the propagating modes. On the other hand, owing to the tunneling effect a pair of edge states around the barrier region with opposite moving directions may be coupled and formed a circulating localized state, leading to the quenching of the related propagating states. The resulting dispersion relation exhibits oscillation structures superimposed on the bulk Landau levels. These novel conductance characteristics may provide potential applications to the fabrication of new quantum devices.

Deep centers in AlGaAs/GaAs GRIN-SCH SQW laser structures grown by MBE and MOCVD

The deep centers in AlGaAs/GaAs graded index-separate confinement heterostructure single quantum well (GRIN-SCHSQW) laser structures grown by MBE and MOCVD have been investigated using deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) technique, The majority and minority carrier DLTS spectra show that the deep (hole and electron) traps (Hi and E3), having large capture cross sections and concentrations, are observed in the graded n-AlxGa1-xAs layer of laser structures in addition to the well-known DX centers. For laser structures grown by MBE, the deep hole trap H1 and the deep electron trap E3 may be spatially localized in the interface regions of discontinuous variation Al mole fraction of the n-AlxGa1-xAs layer with x = 0.20-0.43. For laser structures grown by MOCVD, the deep electron trap E3 may be spatially localized in the n-AlxGa1-xAs layer with x = 0.18-0.30, and the DX center may be spatially localized in the interface regions of discontinuous variation Al mole fraction of the AlxGa1-xAs layer with x = 0.22-0.30.

Theoretical and experimental investigations of flexural wave propagation in periodic grid structures designed with the idea of phononic crystals

The propagation characteristics of fiexural waves in periodic grid structures designed with the idea of phononic crystals are investigated by combining the Bloch theorem with the finite element method. This combined analysis yields phase constant surfaces, which predict the location and the extension of band gaps, as well as the directions and the regions of wave propagation at assigned frequencies. The predictions are validated by computation and experimental analysis of the harmonic responses of a finite structure with 11 × 11 unit cells. The fiexural wave is localized at the point of excitation in band gaps, while the directional behaviour occurs at particular frequencies in pass bands. These studies provide guidelines to designing periodic structures for vibration attenuation.

Selective intermixing of Ga(In)NAs/GaAs quantum well structures usingSiO(2) encapsulation and rapid thermal annealing

The quantum well intermixing of Ga(In)NAs/GaAs simple quantum well (SQW) using SiO2 encapsulation and rapid thermal annealing has been studied. Obvious enhanced intermixing of GaInNAs/GaAs SQW was observed due to the localized SiO2 capping layer and RTA at temperature between 650degreesC and 900degreesC. The selective intermixing strongly depends on N composition and In composition. An obvious selective intermixing had been found in the samples with small N composition and/or high In composition.

Thiacalix[4]arene-Supported Planar Ln(4) (Ln = Tb-III, Dy-III) Clusters: Toward Luminescent and Magnetic Bifunctional Materials

This paper reports the syntheses, crystal structures, and luminescent and magnetic properties of four tetranuclear Tb-III (1 and 3) and Dy-III (2 and 4) complexes supported by p-phenylthiacalix[4]arene (H(4)PTC4A) and p-tert-butylthiacalix-[4]arene (H(4)TC4A). All four frameworks can be formulated as [Ln(4)(III)(PTC4A/TC4A)(2)(mu(4)-OH)Cl-3(CH3OH)(2)(H2O)(3)], and some methanol and water solvent molecules are occupied in the interstices. The compounds are featured with a sandwichlike unit constructed by two tail-to-tail calixarene molecules and a planar tetragonal (mu(4)-OH)Ln(4) cluster. The photoluminescent analyses suggest that there is an efficient ligand-to-Ln(III) energy transfer for compounds 1-3 and H(4)PTC4A is a more efficient "antenna" than H(4)TC4A.

Synthesis, crystal structures and spectroscopic properties of copper(I) complexes containing beta-dialdiminato supporting ligands

Two mononuclear neutral copper(I) complexes, Cu(L-1)PPh3 (1), Cu(L-2)(PPh3)(2) (2) ([L-1](-) = [{N((C6H3Pr2)-Pr-i-2,6)C(H)}(2)CPh](-); [L-2](-) = [{N(C6H5)C(H)}(2)CPh](-)) have been synthesized and structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography. In complex 1, the copper(I) atom is in a distorted three-coordinate trigonal planar environment, whereas in complex 2 with the less sterically hindered beta-dialdiminato ligand, the copper(I) atom is the centre of a four-coordinate distorted tetrahedron. At room temperature complexes 1 and 2 in a film of PMMA exhibit green emission at 543 and 549 nm with lifetimes of 5.28 and 5.32 ns, respectively.