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Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    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.
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    Role of hole confinement in the recombination properties of InGaN quantum structures
    ([London] : Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature, 2019) Anikeeva, M.; Albrecht, M.; Mahler, F.; Tomm, J. W.; Lymperakis, L.; Chèze, C.; Calarco, R.; Neugebauer, J.; Schulz, T.
    We study the isolated contribution of hole localization for well-known charge carrier recombination properties observed in conventional, polar InGaN quantum wells (QWs). This involves the interplay of charge carrier localization and non-radiative transitions, a non-exponential decay of the emission and a specific temperature dependence of the emission, denoted as “s-shape”. We investigate two dimensional In0.25Ga0.75N QWs of single monolayer (ML) thickness, stacked in a superlattice with GaN barriers of 6, 12, 25 and 50 MLs. Our results are based on scanning and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (STEM and HR-TEM), continuous-wave (CW) and time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) measurements as well as density functional theory (DFT) calculations. We show that the recombination processes in our structures are not affected by polarization fields and electron localization. Nevertheless, we observe all the aforementioned recombination properties typically found in standard polar InGaN quantum wells. Via decreasing the GaN barrier width to 6 MLs and below, the localization of holes in our QWs is strongly reduced. This enhances the influence of non-radiative recombination, resulting in a decreased lifetime of the emission, a weaker spectral dependence of the decay time and a reduced s-shape of the emission peak. These findings suggest that single exponential decay observed in non-polar QWs might be related to an increasing influence of non-radiative transitions.
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    Intentional polarity conversion of AlN epitaxial layers by oxygen
    ([London] : Macmillan Publishers Limited, 2018) Stolyarchuk, N.; Markurt, T.; Courville, A.; March, K.; Zúñiga-Pérez, J.; Vennéguès, P.; Albrecht, M.
    Nitride materials (AlN, GaN, InN and their alloys) are commonly used in optoelectronics, high-power and high-frequency electronics. Polarity is the essential characteristic of these materials: when grown along c-direction, the films may exhibit either N- or metal-polar surface, which strongly influences their physical properties. The possibility to manipulate the polarity during growth allows to establish unique polarity in nitride thin films and nanowires for existing applications but also opens up new opportunities for device applications, e.g., in non-linear optics. In this work, we show that the polarity of an AlN film can intentionally be inverted by applying an oxygen plasma. We anneal an initially mixed-polar AlN film, grown on sapphire substrate by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE), with an oxygen plasma in a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) chamber; then, back in MOVPE, we deposit a 200 nm thick AlN film on top of the oxygen-treated surface. Analysis by high-resolution probe-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) imaging and electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) evidences a switch of the N-polar domains to metal polarity. The polarity inversion is mediated through the formation of a thin AlxOyNz layer on the surface of the initial mixed polar film, induced by the oxygen annealing.
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    Dislocations in ceramic electrolytes for solid-state Li batteries
    ([London] : Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature, 2021) Porz, L.; Knez, D.; Scherer, M.; Ganschow, S.; Kothleitner, G.; Rettenwander, D.
    High power solid-state Li batteries (SSLB) are hindered by the formation of dendrite-like structures at high current rates. Hence, new design principles are needed to overcome this limitation. By introducing dislocations, we aim to tailor mechanical properties in order to withstand the mechanical stress leading to Li penetration and resulting in a short circuit by a crack-opening mechanism. Such defect engineering, furthermore, appears to enable whisker-like Li metal electrodes for high-rate Li plating. To reach these goals, the challenge of introducing dislocations into ceramic electrolytes needs to be addressed which requires to establish fundamental understanding of the mechanics of dislocations in the particular ceramics. Here we evaluate uniaxial deformation at elevated temperatures as one possible approach to introduce dislocations. By using hot-pressed pellets and single crystals grown by Czochralski method of Li6.4La3Zr1.4Ta0.6O12 garnets as a model system the plastic deformation by more than 10% is demonstrated. While conclusions on the predominating deformation mechanism remain challenging, analysis of activation energy, activation volume, diffusion creep, and the defect structure potentially point to a deformation mechanism involving dislocations. These parameters allow identification of a process window and are a key step on the road of making dislocations available as a design element for SSLB.
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    Interface polarization model for a 2-dimensional electron gas at the BaSnO3/LaInO3 interface
    ([London] : Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature, 2019) Kim, Young Mo; Markurt, T.; Kim, Youjung; Zupancic, M.; Shin, Juyeon; Albrecht, M.; Char, Kookrin
    In order to explain the experimental sheet carrier density n2D at the interface of BaSnO3/LaInO3, we consider a model that is based on the presence of interface polarization in LaInO3 which extends over 2 pseudocubic unit cells from the interface and eventually disappears in the next 2 unit cells. Considering such interface polarization in calculations based on 1D Poisson-Schrödinger equations, we consistently explain the dependence of the sheet carrier density of BaSnO3/LaInO3 heterinterfaces on the thickness of the LaInO3 layer and the La doping of the BaSnO3 layer. Our model is supported by a quantitative analysis of atomic position obtained from high resolution transmission electron microscopy which evidences suppression of the octahedral tilt and a vertical lattice expansion in LaInO3 over 2–3 pseudocubic unit cells at the coherently strained interface.
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    Transport Properties and Finite Size Effects in β-Ga2O3 Thin Films
    ([London] : Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature, 2019) Ahrling, Robin; Boy, Johannes; Handwerg, Martin; Chiatti, Olivio; Mitdank, Rüdiger; Wagner, Günter; Galazka, Zbigniew; Fischer, Saskia F.
    Thin films of the wide band gap semiconductor β-Ga2O3 have a high potential for applications in transparent electronics and high power devices. However, the role of interfaces remains to be explored. Here, we report on fundamental limits of transport properties in thin films. The conductivities, Hall densities and mobilities in thin homoepitaxially MOVPE grown (100)-orientated β-Ga2O3 films were measured as a function of temperature and film thickness. At room temperature, the electron mobilities ((115 ± 10) cm2/Vs) in thicker films (>150 nm) are comparable to the best of bulk. However, the mobility is strongly reduced by more than two orders of magnitude with decreasing film thickness ((5.5 ± 0.5) cm2/Vs for a 28 nm thin film). We find that the commonly applied classical Fuchs-Sondheimer model does not explain sufficiently the contribution of electron scattering at the film surfaces. Instead, by applying an electron wave model by Bergmann, a contribution to the mobility suppression due to the large de Broglie wavelength in β-Ga2O3 is proposed as a limiting quantum mechanical size effect.
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    Exciton emission of quasi-2D InGaN in GaN matrix grown by molecular beam epitaxy
    ([London] : Macmillan Publishers Limited, 2017) Ma, Dingyu; Rong, Xin; Zheng, Xiantong; Wang, Weiying; Wang, Ping; Schulz, Tobias; Albrecht, Martin; Metzner, Sebastian; Müller, Mathias; August, Olga; Bertram, Frank; Christen, Jürgen; Jin, Peng; Li, Mo; Zhang, Jian; Yang, Xuelin; Xu, Fujun; Qin, Zhixin; Ge, Weikun; Shen, Bo; Wang, Xinqiang
    We investigate the emission from confined excitons in the structure of a single-monolayer-thick quasi-two-dimensional (quasi-2D) Inx Ga1-x N layer inserted in GaN matrix. This quasi-2D InGaN layer was successfully achieved by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), and an excellent in-plane uniformity in this layer was confirmed by cathodoluminescence mapping study. The carrier dynamics have also been investigated by time-resolved and excitation-power-dependent photoluminescence, proving that the recombination occurs via confined excitons within the ultrathin quasi-2D InGaN layer even at high temperature up to ∼220 K due to the enhanced exciton binding energy. This work indicates that such structure affords an interesting opportunity for developing high-performance photonic devices.