Search Results

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
  • Item
    Terahertz stimulated emission from silicon doped by hydrogenlike acceptors
    (College Park : American Institute of Physics Inc., 2014) Pavlov, S.G.; Deßmann, N.; Shastin, V.N.; Zhukavin, R.K.; Redlich, B.; van der Meer, A.F.G.; Mittendorff, M.; Winnerl, S.; Abrosimov, N.V.; Riemann, H.; Hübers, H.-W.
    Stimulated emission in the terahertz frequency range has been realized from boron acceptor centers in silicon. Population inversion is achieved at resonant optical excitation on the 1Λ8+ → 1Λ7- , 1Λ6-, 1Λ8- intracenter transitions with a midinfrared free-electron laser. Lasing occurs on two intracenter transitions around 1.75 THz. The upper laser levels are the 1Λ7- , 1Λ6- , and 1Λ8- states, and the lower laser level for both emission lines is the 2Λ8+ state. In contrast to n-type intracenter silicon lasers, boron-doped silicon lasers do not involve the excited states with the longest lifetimes. Instead, the absorption cross section for the pump radiation is the dominating factor. The four-level lasing scheme implies that the deepest even-parity boron state is the 2Λ8+ state and not the 1Λ7+ split-off ground state, as indicated by other experiments. This is confirmed by infrared absorption spectroscopy of Si:B.
  • Item
    Towards a life-time-limited 8-octave-infrared photoconductive germanium detector
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2015) Pavlov, S.G.; Deßmann, N.; Pohl, A.; Abrosimov, N.V.; Mittendorff, M.; Winnerl, S.; Zhukavin, R.K; Tsyplenkov, V.V.; Shengurov, D.V.; Shastin, V.N.; Hübers, H.-W.
    Ultrafast, ultra-broad-band photoconductive detector based on heavily doped and highly compensated germanium has been demonstrated. Such a material demonstrates optical sensitivity in the more than 8 octaves, in the infrared, from about 2 mm to about 8 μm. The spectral sensitivity peaks up between 2 THz and 2.5 THz and is slowly reduced towards lower and higher frequencies. The life times of free electrons/holes measured by a pump-probe technique approach a few tenths of picoseconds and remain almost independent on the optical input intensity and on the temperature of a detector in the operation range. During operation, a detector is cooled down to liquid helium temperature but has been approved to detect, with a reduced sensitivity, up to liquid nitrogen temperature. The response time is shorter than 200 ps that is significantly faster than previously reported times.
  • Item
    Terahertz emission from lithium doped silicon under continuous wave interband optical excitation
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2015) Andrianov, A.V.; Zakhar'in, A.O.; Zhukavin, R.K.; Shastin, V.N.; Abrosimov, N.V.
    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.
  • Item
    Violation of a Leggett-Garg inequality with ideal non-invasive measurements
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2012) Knee, G.C.; Simmons, S.; Gauger, E.M.; Morton, J.J.L.; Riemann, H.; Abrosimov, N.V.; Becker, P.; Pohl, H.-J.; Itoh, K.M.; Thewalt, M.L.W.; Briggs, G.A.D.; Benjamin, S.C.
    The quantum superposition principle states that an entity can exist in two different states simultaneously, counter to our 'classical' intuition. Is it possible to understand a given system's behaviour without such a concept? A test designed by Leggett and Garg can rule out this possibility. The test, originally intended for macroscopic objects, has been implemented in various systems. However to date no experiment has employed the 'ideal negative result' measurements that are required for the most robust test. Here we introduce a general protocol for these special measurements using an ancillary system, which acts as a local measuring device but which need not be perfectly prepared. We report an experimental realization using spin-bearing phosphorus impurities in silicon. The results demonstrate the necessity of a non-classical picture for this class of microscopic system. Our procedure can be applied to systems of any size, whether individually controlled or in a spatial ensemble.
  • Item
    Si:P as a laboratory analogue for hydrogen on high magnetic field white dwarf stars
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2013) Murdin, B.N.; Li, J.; Pang, M.L.Y.; Bowyer, E.T.; Litvinenko, K.L.; Clowes, S.K.; Engelkamp, H.; Pidgeon, C.R.; Galbraith, I.; Abrosimov, N.V.; Riemann, H.; Pavlov, S.G.; Hübers, H.-W.; Murdin, P.G.
    Laboratory spectroscopy of atomic hydrogen in a magnetic flux density of 10 5 T (1 gigagauss), the maximum observed on high-field magnetic white dwarfs, is impossible because practically available fields are about a thousand times less. In this regime, the cyclotron and binding energies become equal. Here we demonstrate Lyman series spectra for phosphorus impurities in silicon up to the equivalent field, which is scaled to 32.8 T by the effective mass and dielectric constant. The spectra reproduce the high-field theory for free hydrogen, with quadratic Zeeman splitting and strong mixing of spherical harmonics. They show the way for experiments on He and H 2 analogues, and for investigation of He 2, a bound molecule predicted under extreme field conditions.
  • Item
    Optical pumping and readout of bismuth hyperfine states in silicon for atomic clock applications
    ([London] : Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature, 2015) Saeedi, K.; Szech, M.; Dluhy, P.; Salvail, J.Z.; Morse, K.J.; Riemann, H.; Abrosimov, N.V.; Nötzel, N.; Litvinenko, K.L.; Murdin, B.N.; Thewalt, M.L.W.
    The push for a semiconductor-based quantum information technology has renewed interest in the spin states and optical transitions of shallow donors in silicon, including the donor bound exciton transitions in the near-infrared and the Rydberg, or hydrogenic, transitions in the mid-infrared. The deepest group V donor in silicon, bismuth, has a large zero-field ground state hyperfine splitting, comparable to that of rubidium, upon which the now-ubiquitous rubidium atomic clock time standard is based. Here we show that the ground state hyperfine populations of bismuth can be read out using the mid-infrared Rydberg transitions, analogous to the optical readout of the rubidium ground state populations upon which rubidium clock technology is based. We further use these transitions to demonstrate strong population pumping by resonant excitation of the bound exciton transitions, suggesting several possible approaches to a solid-state atomic clock using bismuth in silicon, or eventually in enriched 28Si.