Hole-mediated electric field tunable high Curie temperature in Mn-doped wurtzite ZnO nanowires

The hole-mediated Curie temperature in Mn-doped wurtzite ZnO nanowires is investigated using the k center dot p method and mean field model. The Curie temperature T-C as a function of the hole density has many peaks for small Mn concentration (x(eff)) due to the density of states of one-dimensional quantum wires. The peaks of T-C are merged by the carriers' thermal distribution when x(eff) is large. High Curie temperature T-C > 400 K is found in (Zn,Mn)O nanowires. A transverse electric field changes the Curie temperature a lot. (Zn,Mn)O nanowires can be tuned from ferromagnetic to paramagnetic by a transverse electric field at room temperature. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Hole Spin Relaxation in an Ultrathin InAs Monolayer

We investigate the spin relaxation time of holes in an ultrathin neutral InAs monolayer (1.5 ML) and compare with that of electrons, using polarization-dependent time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) experiments. With excitation energies above the GaAs gap, we observe a rather slow relaxation of holes (tau(1h) = 196 +/- 17 ps) that is in the magnitude similar to electrons (tau(1e) = 354 +/- 32 ps) in this ultrathin sample. The results are in good agreement with earlier theoretical prediction, and the phonon scattering due to spin-orbit coupling is realized to play a dominant role in the carrier spin kinetics.

Origin and Enhancement of Hole-Induced Ferromagnetism in First-Row d(0) Semiconductors

The origin of ferromagnetism in d(0) semiconductors is studied using first-principles methods with ZnO as a prototype material. We show that the presence of spontaneous magnetization in nitrides and oxides with sufficient holes is an intrinsic property of these first-row d(0) semiconductors and can be attributed to the localized nature of the 2p states of O and N. We find that acceptor doping, especially doping at the anion site, can enhance the ferromagnetism with much smaller threshold hole concentrations. The quantum confinement effect also reduces the critical hole concentration to induce ferromagnetism in ZnO nanowires. The characteristic nonmonotonic spin couplings in these systems are explained in terms of the band coupling model.

Analysis of mode characteristics for equilateral-polygonal resonators with a center hole

Mode characteristics for equilateral triangles, squares, and hexagonal resonators with a center hole are numerically simulated by the finite-different time domain (FDTD) technique. The center hole does not break the symmetry behavior of the original resonators and can result in modification of the mode field patterns and mode Q factors. In an equilateral triangle resonator the center hole can suppress the symmetry state of degenerate states with the merit of single mode operation. In a square resonator, the Q factor can be enhanced for some modes with a suitable size of the hole. For a hexagonal resonator with a side length of 1 mu m and a refractive index of 3.2, the mode Q factors first gradually decrease with the increase of the hole diameter for modes at a wavelength of about 1500 nm, then the modes transform to that of a microdisk with a jump of the mode wavelength as the hole diameter approaches 0.7 mu m. Finally, the mode Q factors greatly enhance as the hole diameter reaches about 1 mu m. The results indicate that the center hole can greatly modify mode characteristics, especially that of the mode Q factor. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America

Efficient hole transport in asymmetric coupled InGaN multiple quantum wells

InGaN based light emitting devices (LEDs) with asymmetric coupled quantum wells (AS-QWs) and conventional symmetric coupled quantum wells (CS-QWs) active structures were grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition technique. The LEDs with AS-QWs active region show improved light emission intensity and reduced forward voltage compared with LEDs with CS-QWs active region. Based on the electroluminescence measurements and the devices structure analysis, it can be concluded that these improvements are mainly attributed to the efficient hole tunneling through barriers and consequently the uniform distribution of carriers in the AS-QWs. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3254232]

Electron and hole states in diluted magnetic semiconductor quantum dots

The electronic structure of a diluted magnetic semiconductor (DMS) quantum dot (QD) is studied within the framework of the effective-mass theory. We find that the energies of the electron with different spin orientation exhibit different behavior as a function of magnetic field at small magnetic fields. The energies of the hole decreases rapidly at low magnetic fields and saturate at higher magnetic field due to the sp-d exchange interaction between the carriers and the magnetic ions. The mixing effect of the hole states in the DMS QD can be tuned by changing the external magnetic field. An interesting crossing behavior of the hole ground state between the heavy-hole state and the light-hole state is found with variation of the QD radius. The strength of the interband optical transition for different circular polarization exhibts quite different behavior with increasing magnetic field and QD radius.

Detailed model and investigation of gain saturation and carrier spatial hole burning for a semiconductor optical amplifier with gain clamping by a vertical laser field

A detailed model for semiconductor linear optical amplifiers (LOAs) with gain clamping by a vertical laser field is presented, which accounts the carrier and photon density distribution in the longitudinal direction as well as the facet reflectivity. The photon iterative method is used in the simulation with output amplified spontaneous emission spectrum in the wide band as iterative variables. The gain saturation behaviors and the noise figure are numerically simulated, and the variation of longitudinal carrier density with the input power is presented which is associated with the ON-OFF state of the vertical lasers. The results show that the LOA can have a gain spectrum clamped in a wide wavelength range and have almost the same value of noise figure as that of conventional semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs). Numerical results also show that an LOA can have a noise figure about 2 dB less than that of the SOA gain clamped by a distributed Bragg reflector laser.

High-temperature electron-hole liquid and dynamics of Fermi excitons in a In0.65Al0.35As/Al0.4Ga0.6As quantum dot array

State-filling effects of the exciton in a In0.65Al0.35As/Al0.4Ga0.6As quantum dot array are observed by quantum dot array photolumineseence at a sample temperature of 77 K. The exciton emission at low excitation density is dominated by the radiative recombination of the states in the s shell and at high excitation density the emission mainly results from the radiative recombination of the exciton state in the p shell. The spectral interval between the states in the s and p shells is about 30-40 mcV. The time resolved photoluminescence shows that the decay time of exciton states in the p shell is longer than that of exciton states in the s shell, and the emission intensity of the exciton state in the p shell is superlinearly dependent on excitation density. Furthermore, electron-hole liquid in the quantum dot array is observed at 77 K, which is a much higher temperature than that in bulk. The emission peak of the. recombination, of electron-hole liquid has an about 200 meV redshift from the exciton fluorescence. Two excitation density-dependent emission peaks at 1.56 and 1.59 eV are observed, respectively, which result from quantum confinement effects in QDs. The emission intensity of electron-hole liquid is directly proportional to the cubic of excitation densities and its decay time decreases significantly at the high excitation density.

On the formation of well-aligned ZnO nanowall networks by catalyst-free thermal evaporation method

Two-dimensional ZnO nanowall networks were grown on ZnO-coated silicon by thermal evaporation at low temperature without catalysts or additives. All of the results from scanning electronic spectroscope, X-ray diffraction and Raman scattering confirmed that the ZnO nanowalls were vertically aligned and c-axis oriented. The room-temperature photoluminescence spectra showed a dominated UV peak at 378 nm, and a much suppressed orange emission centered at similar to 590 nm. This demonstrates fairly good crystal quality and optical properties of the product. A possible three-step, zinc vapor-controlled process was proposed to explain the growth of well-aligned ZnO nanowall networks. The pre-coated ZnO template layer plays a key role during the synthesis process, which guides the growth direction of the synthesized products. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of electron-hole spatial correlation on spin relaxation dynamics in InAs submonolayer

Using time-resolved photoluminescence and time-resolved Kerr rotation spectroscopy, we explore the unique electron spin behavior in an InAs submonolayer sandwiched in a GaAs matrix, which shows very different spin characteristics under resonant and non-resonant excitations. While a very long spin relaxation lifetime of a few nanoseconds at low temperature is observed under non-resonant excitation, it decreases dramatically under resonant excitation. These interesting results are attributed to the difference in electron-hole interactions caused by non-geminate or geminate capture of photo-generated electron-hole pairs in the two excitation cases, and provide a direct verification of the electron-hole spatial correlation effect on electron spin relaxation. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Improved performance in organic light emitting diodes with a mixed electron donor-acceptor film involved in hole injection

Organic light emitting diodes using a mixed layer of electron acceptor 3, 4, 9, 10 perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride and electron donor copper phthalocyanine (PTCDA:CuPc) on indium tin oxide (ITO) anodes were fabricated. The device properties were found to be strongly dependent on the thickness of the PTCDA:CuPc film: both the power efficiency and the driving voltage of the device were optimized with a thickness of PTCDA:CuPc ranging from 10 to 20 nm. As compared to the conventional ITO/CuPc hole injection structure, the ITO/PTCDA:CuPc hole injection structure could remarkably enhance both the luminance and the power efficiencies of devices. A mechanism of static-induced, very efficient hole-electron pairs generation in mixed PTCDA:CuPc films was proposed to explain the experimental phenomena. The structural and optical properties of PTCDA:CuPc film were examined as well. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Organic light emitting diodes with an organic acceptor/donor interface involved in hole injection

Organic light emitting diodes with an interface of organic acceptor 3-, 4-, 9-, 10-perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) and donor copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) involved in hole injection are fabricated. As compared to the conventional device using a 5 nm CuPc hole injection layer, the device using an interface of 10 nm PTCDA and 5 rim CuPc layers shows much lower operating voltage with an increase of about 46% in the maximum power efficiency. The enhanced device performance is attributed to the efficient hole generation at the PTCDA/CuPc interface. This study provides a new way of designing hole injection.

Hole Rashba effect and g-factor in InP nanowires

The hole Rashba effect and g-factor in InP nanowires in the presence of electric and magnetic fields which bring spin splitting are investigated theoretically in the framework of eight-band effective-mass envelop function theory, by expanding the lateral wave function in Bessel functions. It is well known that the electron Rashba coefficient increases nearly linearly with the electric field. As the Rashba spin splitting is zero at zero k(z) ( the wave vector along the wire direction), the electron g-factor at k(z) = 0 changes little with the electric field. While we find that as the electric field increases, the hole Rashba coefficient increases at first, then decreases. It is noticed that the hole Rashba coefficient is zero at a critical electric field. The hole g-factor at k(z) = 0 changes obviously with the electric field.

Two opposite gradients of hole density in as-grown and annealed (Ga,Mn)As layers

The depth distribution of the hole density p in 500 nm-thick (Ga,Mn)As layers is investigated. From Raman scattering spectra, it is found that the gradients of p are opposite in the as-grown and annealed layers. At the region around the free surface, with increasing etching depth, p significantly increases in the as-grown layer; however, p decreases distinctly in the annealed layer. Then, in the bulk, p becomes almost homogeneous for both cases. The etching-depth dependence of Curie temperature obtained from magnetic measurements is in agreement with the distribution characterization of p. These results suggest that annealing induces outdiffusion of Mn interstitials towards the free surface, and incomplete outdiffusion during the growth leads to an accumulation of Mn interstitials around the free surface of the as-grown (Ga,Mn)As. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Quantum waveguide theory for hole transport in mesoscopic structures

A quantum waveguide theory is proposed for hole transport in the mesoscopic structures, including the band mixing effect. We found that due to the interference between the 'light' hole and 'heavy' wave, the transmission and reflection coefficients oscillate more irregularly as a function of incident wave vector geometry parameters. Furthermore conversion between the heavy hole and light hole states occurs at the intersection. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.