Optical Measurements of the Core Radius of High-Δ Fibers with 1-nm Resolution

An optical technique for measuring the core radius of high-Δ optical fibers is described. Variations in the core radius of step-index fibers can be measured down to a scale of 1 nm

Visible Luminescence from Single Crystal‐Silicon Quantum Wells

Single crystal‐silicon quantum wells with SiO2 barriers have been grown from SIMOX silicon‐on‐insulator substrates. Photoluminescence in the red and near‐infrared is observed for average well width \u3c8 \u3enm, with peak signal for 2‐nm average width. The luminescence spectrum is independent of well width for SiO2 barriers, but shifts 0.3 eV to higher energy upon removal of the upper oxide layer with HF. Both results suggest the importance of radiation from surface states

Photoluminescence Properties of Silicon Quantum-Well Layers

Nanometer-scale crystal silicon films surrounded by SiO2 were prepared by oxidizing silicon-on-insulator substrates prepared from SIMOX (separation by implantation of oxygen) and crystallized hydrogenated amorphous silicon films. Average silicon layer thickness was determined from reflection spectra. When sufficiently thin (\u3c2 \u3enm), all layers emitted red photoluminescence under blue and UV cw excitation, with a spectrum that did not depend on the mean layer thickness. The spectrum was roughly Gaussian with a peak energy of 1.65 eV, which is lower than for most porous silicon spectra. The time scale for the luminescence decay was ~35 μs at room temperature and ~54 μs at 88 K; the decay was nonexponential and did not exhibit spectral diffusion. Atomic force microscope images of the silicon layers showed that luminescing layers were broken apart into regions ~50-100 μm in diameter, suggesting that luminescence comes only from regions small enough to have no nonradiative recombination centers in the band gap. These results are inconsistent with a simple quantum-confinement model for luminescence in two-dimensional silicon and suggest the importance of radiation from surface states

Primary Relaxation Processes at the Band Edge of SiO₂

The kinetics of photoinduced defect formation in high-purity silicas has been studied by femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy in the visible and ultraviolet. Band edge two-photon excitation produces singlet excitons which decay in 0.25 ps into defects with the absorption spectra of nonbridging oxygen hole centers (≡Si-O⋅) and silicon E’ centers (≡Si⋅). We identify these defect pairs with the self-trapped triplet exciton and the 0.25 ps decay with the motion of the photoexcited oxygen atom. Similar results were obtained with both crystalline and amorphous silica samples

Distinguishing Surface and Bulk Contributions to Third-Harmonic Generation in Silicon

We report measurements of third-harmonic generation from ultrathin crystalline silicon layers of gradually varying thickness. Both the angular and thickness dependence of the third-harmonic light generated in transmission at normal incidence are consistent with negligible surface contribution to third-harmonic generation in silicon, even under tight focusing. This work illustrates a method for distinguishing surface and bulk contributions to harmonic generation

Short Terahertz Pulses from Semiconductor Surfaces: The Importance of Bulk Difference‐Frequency Mixing

The crystallographic orientation dependence of the far‐infrared (FIR) light generated at the (001) surface of a zincblende semiconductor is shown to derive principally from bulk difference‐frequency mixing. A strong modulation is observed for 1‐GW/cm2 pulses on InP, which demonstrates that the radiated FIR wave produced by bulk optical rectification is comparable to that generated by the transport of photoinjected carriers. Using the bulk rectification light as a clock, we show that more than 95% of the light produced from an InP (111) crystal by 100‐fs, 100‐μJ pulses is generated in a time shorter than the excitation pulse

Ultrafast Electronic Disordering During Femtosecond Laser Melting of GaAs

We have observed an ultrarapid electronic phase transformation to a centrosymmetric electronic state during laser excitation of GaAs with intense femtosecond pulses. Reflection second-harmonic intensity from the upper 90 atomic layers vanishes within 100 fs; reflectivity rises within 0.5 ps to a steady value characteristic of a metallic molten phase, long before phonon emission can heat the lattice to the melting temperature

Femtosecond Spectrotemporal Magneto-Optics

A new method to measure and analyze the time and spectrally resolved polarimetric response of magnetic materials is presented. It allows us to study the ultrafast magnetization dynamics of a CoPt3 ferromagnetic film. The analysis of the pump-induced rotation and ellipticity detected by a broad spectrum probe beam shows that magneto-optical signals predominantly reflect the spin dynamics in ferromagnets

Intervalley Scattering in GaAs and InP Probed by Pulsed Far‐Infrared Transmission Spectroscopy

The dynamics of photoexcited electrons in GaAs and InP were studied using the transmission of 200‐fs pulses of far‐infrared radiation in the spectral range 15–100 cm−1. Kinetic traces of the infrared transmission as a function of delay between optical excitation and infrared probe show a probe‐limited decrease in transmission followed by a more gradual (0.7–2 ps) drop to a steady value, consistent with the slow return of electrons from high‐mass satellite valleys. Infrared transmission spectra, analyzed in the context of a Drude model, reveal density‐dependent electron mobilities 3–4 times below equilibrium n‐doped values. Electron‐hole collisions likely account for the lower mobility

How Much can Guided Modes Enhance Absorption in Thin Solar Cells?

Absorption enhancement in thin metal-backed solar cells caused by dipole scatterers embedded in the absorbing layer is studied using a semi-analytical approach. The method accounts for changes in the radiation rate produced by layers above and below the dipole, and treats incoherently the subsequent scattering of light in guided modes from other dipoles. We find large absorption enhancements for strongly coupled dipoles, exceeding the ergodic limit in some configurations involving lossless dipoles. An antireflection-coated 100-nm layer of a-Si:H on Ag absorbs up to 87% of incident above-gap light. Thin layers of both strong and weak absorbers show similar strongly enhanced absorption