Field emission mechanism from a single-layer ultra-thin semiconductor film cathode

Field emission (FE) from a single-layer ultra-thin semiconductor film cathode (SUSC) on a metal substrate has been investigated theoretically. The self-consistent quantum FE model is developed by synthetically considering the energy band bending and electron scattering. As a typical example, we calculate the FE properties of ultra-thin A1N film with an adjustable film thickness from 1 to 10 nm. The calculated results show that the FE characteristic is evidently modulated by varying the film thickness, and there is an optimum thickness of about 3 nm. Furthermore, a four-step FE mechanism is suggested such that the distinct FE current of a SUSC is rooted in the thickness sensitivity of its quantum structure, and the optimum FE properties of the SUSC should be attributed to the change in the effective potential combined with the attenuation of electron scattering.

Dynamics of spin-dependent tunneling through a semiconductor double-barrier structure

The dynamics of spin-dependent tunneling through a nonmagnetic semiconductor double-barrier structure is studied including the k(3) Dresselhaus spin orbit coupling is solved by the time-dependent Schrodinger equation with a developed method for the finite-difference relaxation. The resonant peak and quasibound level lifetime are determined by the in-plane wave vector and the applied electric field. The buildup time and decay lifetime of resonant probability amplitude are different for the spin-down and spin-up electrons due to the Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling. Further investigation shows that the steady spin-polarization in both the well and collector regions has been obtained in the time domain. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Fabrication of photonic crystals on several kinds of semiconductor materials by using focused-ion beam method

In this paper, we introduced the fabrication of photonic crystals on several kinds of semiconductor materials by using focused-ion beam machine, it shows that the method of focused-ion beam can fabricate two-dimensional photonic crystal and photonic crystal device efficiently, and the quality of the fabricated photonic crystal is high. Using the focused-ion beam method, we fabricate photonic crystal wavelength division multiplexer, and its characteristics are analyzed. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

High average power and short pulse duration continuous wave mode-locked Nd : GdVO4 laser with a semiconductor absorber mirror

Passive mode locking of a solid-state Nd:GdVO4 laser is demonstrated. The laser is mode locked by use of a semiconductor absorber mirror (SAM). A low Nd3+ doped Nd:GdVO4 crystal is used to mitigate the thermal lens effect of the laser crystal at a high pump power. The maximum average output power is up to 6.5 W, and the pulse duration is as short as 6.2 ps. The optic-to-optic conversion efficiency is 32.5% and the repetition rate is about 110 MHz.

Electronic states of a hydrogenic donor impurity in semiconductor nano-structures

We propose a method for uniformly calculating the electronic states of a hydrogenic donor impurity in low-dimensional semiconductor nano-structures in the framework of effective-mass envelope-function theory, and we study the electronic structures of this systems. Compared to previous methods, our method has the following merits: (a) It can be widely applied in the calculation of the electronic states of hydrogenic donor impurities in nano-structures of various shapes; (b) It can easily be extended to study the effects of external fields and other complex cases; (c) The excited states are more easily calculated than with the variational method; (d) It is convenient to calculate the change of the electronic states with the position of a hydrogenic donor impurity in nano-structures; (e) The binding energy can be calculated explicitly. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

High and electric field tunable Curie temperature in diluted magnetic semiconductor nanowires and nanoslabs

The Curie temperature of diluted magnetic semiconductor (DMS) nanowires and nanoslabs is investigated using the mean-field model. The Curie temperature in DMS nanowires can be much larger than that in corresponding bulk material due to the density of states of one-dimensional quantum wires, and when only one conduction subband is filled, the Curie temperature is inversely proportional to the carrier density. The T-C in DMS nanoslabs is dependent on the carrier density through the number of the occupied subbands. A transverse electric field can change the DMS nanowires from the paramagnet to ferromagnet, or vice versae. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Influence of N doping on the Rashba coefficient, semiconductor-metal transition, and electron effective mass in InSb1-xNx nanowires: Ten-band k center dot p model

The electronic structures of InSb1-xNx nanowires are investigated using the ten-band k center dot p method. It is found that nitrogen increases the Rashba coefficient of the nanowires dramatically. For thick nanowires, the Rashba coefficient may increase by more than 20 times. The semiconductor-metal transition occurs more easily in InSb1-xNx nanowires than in InSb nanowires. The electronic structure of InSb1-xNx nanowires is very different from that of the bulk material. For fixed x the bulk material is a semimetal, while the nanowires are metal-like. In InSb1-xNx bulk material and thick nanowires, an interesting decrease of electron effective mass is observed near k=0 which is induced by the nitrogen, but this phenomenon disappears in thin nanowires.

Transfer and detection of single electrons using metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors

A single-electron turnstile and electrometer circuit was fabricated on a silicon-on-insulator substrate. The turnstile, which is operated by opening and closing two metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) alternately, allows current quantization at 20 K due to single-electron transfer. Another MOSFET is placed at the drain side of the turnstile to form an electron storage island. Therefore, one-by-one electron entrance into the storage island from the turnstile can be detected as an abrupt change in the current of the electrometer, which is placed near the storage island and electrically coupled to it. The correspondence between the quantized current and the single-electron counting was confirmed.

High-average-power and high-conversion-efficiency continuous wave mode-locked Nd : YVO4 laser with a semiconductor absorber mirror

A high-power continuous wave (cw) mode-locked Nd:YVO4 solid-state laser was demonstrated by use of a semiconductor absorber mirror (SAM). The maximum average output power was 8.1 W and the optic-to-optic conversion efficiency was about 41 %. At the maximum incident pump power, the pulse width was about 8.6 ps and the repetition rate was 130 MHz. Experimental results indicated that this absorber was suitable for high power mode-locked solid-state lasers. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A bidirectionall diode-pumped, passively mode-locked Nd : YVO4 ring laser with a low-temperature-grown semiconductor saturable absorber mirror

We report the operation of a bidirectional picosecond pulsed ring Nd:YVO4 laser based on a low-temperature-grown semiconductor saturable absorber mirror. Except for the laser crystal, the six-mirror ring laser cavity has no intra-cavity elements such as focusing lens or mirror. The bidirectional mode locked pluses are obtained at the repetition rate of 117.5 MHz, pulse duration of 81 ps, power of 2 x 200 mW.

Giant and zero electron g factors of dilute nitride semiconductor nanowires

The electronic structures and electron g factors of InSb1-sNs and GaAs1-sNs nanowires and bulk material under the magnetic and electric fields are investigated by using the ten-band k.p model. The nitrogen doping has direct and indirect effects on the g factors. A giant g factor with absolute value larger than 900 is found in InSb1-sNs bulk material. A transverse electric field can increase the g factors, which has obviously asymmetric effects on the g factors in different directions. An electric field tunable zero g factor is found in GaAs1-sNs nanowires. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Measurement of chirp parameter and modulation index of a semiconductor laser based on optical spectrum analysis

A novel and simple method for measuring the chirp parameter, frequency, and intensity modulation indexes of directly modulated lasers is proposed in a small-signal modulation scheme. A graphical approach is presented. An analytical solution to the measurement of low chirp parameters is also given. The measured results agree well with those obtained using the conventional methods.

A short carrier lifetime semiconductor optical amplifier with n-type modulation-doped multiple quantum well structure

Semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) with n-type modulation-doped multiple quantum well structure have been investigated. The shortened carrier lifetime is derived from the PL spectrum and electrical modulation frequency response measurement. The carrier lifetime in semiconductor optical amplifiers with any n-type-2-modulated doping multiple quantum well structure is less than 60% of that in the undoped partner. The shortest measured carrier lifetime of 236 ps in the MD-MQW SOA with sheet carrier density of 3 x 10(12) cm(-2) was only 38% of that in the undoped MQW SOA, which can increase the wavelength conversion efficiency via four wave mixing by a factor of about 7 and switching speed via XGM and XPM applications by a factor of 2.63.

Rate-equation-based circuit model of high-speed semiconductor lasers

Based oil rare equations of semiconductor laser, a symbolically-defined model for optical transmission system performance evaluation and network characterization in both time- and frequency domains is presented. The steady-state and small-signal characteristics, such as current-photon density curve, current-voltage curve, and input impedance, call be predicted from this model. Two important dynamic characteristics, second-order harmonic distortion and two-tone third-order intermodulation products, are evaluated under different driving conditions. Experiments show that the simulated results agree well with the published data. (c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Tunable giant Faraday rotation of exciton in semiconductor quantum wells embedded in a microcavity

The Faraday rotation of an exciton in a GaAs quantum well (QW) embedded in a microcavity is investigated theoretically. The authors find that the Faraday rotation is enhanced remarkably by the microcavity, with a magnitude about two orders of magnitude larger than that of a single QW without microcavity. The Faraday rotation can be tuned by changing the incident angle of the pump and probe lights, or by varying the temperature or an external electric field. With an appropriate detuning between the cavity mode of the pump and probe lights, the Faraday rotation spectrum displays a strongly asymmetric line shape, which can easily be detected experimentally.