Terahertz emission from lithium doped silicon under continuous wave interband optical excitation

We report on experimental observation and study of terahertz emission from lithium doped silicon crystals under continuous wave band-to-band optical excitation. It is shown that radiative transitions of electrons from 2P excited states of lithium donor to the 1S(A1) donor ground state prevail in the emission spectrum. The terahertz emission occurs due to capture of nonequilibrium electrons to charged donors, which in turn are generated in the crystal as a result of impurity assisted electron-hole recombination. Besides the intracentre radiative transitions the terahertz emission spectrum exhibits also features at about 12.7 and 15.27 meV, which could be related to intraexciton transitions and transitions from the continuum to the free exciton ground state

Terahertz lasers based on intracentre transitions of group V donors in uniaxially deformed silicon

This paper presents a brief overview of available experimental data on the characteristics of stimulated terahertz emission (4.9 – 6.4 THz) from optically excited neutral group V donors (phosphorus, antimony, arsenic and bismuth) in crystalline silicon subjected to uniaxial compressive strain along the [100] axis. Strain is shown to have a significant effect on the characteristics in question. Optimal strain depends on the dopant and may reduce the threshold pump intensity and improve lasing efficiency. We discuss possible mechanisms behind this effect and estimate the limiting output emission parameters

Relaxation of Coulomb States in semiconductors probed by FEL radiation

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Time-resolved electronic capture in germanium doped with hydrogen-like impurity centers

The capture of free holes and electrons in germanium (Ge) doped by gallium (Ga) or antimony (Sb) has been studied by a time-resolved pump-probe experiment with the free-electron laser FELBE at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf. For Ga acceptors the relaxation times decrease with increasing pump power from approximately 3 ns to 1 ns (2 ns and 1 ns for Sb donors, respectively). The results support the development of fast photoconductive detectors in the terahertz frequency range

Time-resolved electronic capture in germanium doped with hydrogen-like impurity centers

The capture of free holes and electrons in germanium (Ge) doped by gallium (Ga) or antimony (Sb) has been studied by a time-resolved pump-probe experiment with the free-electron laser FELBE at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf. For Ga acceptors the relaxation times decrease with increasing pump power from approximately 3 ns to 1 ns (2 ns and 1 ns for Sb donors, respectively). The results support the development of fast photoconductive detectors in the terahertz frequency range

Terahertz Silicon Lasers

Terahertz silicon lasers are based on intracenter transitions of group-V donors. The peculiarities due to electron-phonon interaction and the state-of-the-art performance such as frequency tunability by stress or magnetic field are discussed

Stimulated terahertz emission due to electronic Raman scattering in silicon

Silicon-based semiconductors are intensively investigated over the past years as promising candidates for optoelectronic devices at terahertz (THz) frequencies [1]. Optically pumped intracenter silicon lasers, realized in the past decade in the THz range, are based on direct optical transitions between shallow levels of different shallow donors [2]. Recently, terahertz Raman laser emission has been demonstrated in silicon doped by antimony [3] and phosphorus [4]. We report on realization of terahertz lasers based on intracenter electronic Raman scattering in silicon doped by arsenic (Si:As, frequency range 4.8 – 5.1 THz and 5.9 – 6.5 THz) and silicon doped by bismuth (Si:Bi, 4.6 – 5.9 THz) under optical excitation by infrared frequency-tunable free electron laser at low lattice temperatures. The Stokes shift of the observed laser emission is equal to the Raman-active donor electronic transition between the ground 1s(A1) and the excited 1s(E) donor states. Raman terahertz gain of the lasers is similar to those observed for the donor-type terahertz silicon donor lasers