G. Guizzetti

Low-power continuous-wave generation of visible harmonics in silicon photonic crystal nanocavities.

We present the first demonstration of frequency conversion by simultaneous second- and third-harmonic generation in a silicon photonic crystal nanocavity using continuous-wave optical excitation. We observe a bright dual wavelength emission in the blue/green (450-525 nm) and red (675-790 nm) visible windows with pump powers as low as few microwatts in the telecom bands, with conversion efficiencies of ∼ 10 (-5) /W and ∼ 10/ W(2) for the second- and third-harmonic, respectively. Scaling behaviors as a function of pump power and cavity quality-factor are demonstrated for both second- and third order processes. Successful comparison of measured and calculated emission patterns indicates that third-harmonic is a bulk effect while second-harmonic is a surface-related effect at the sidewall holes boundaries. Our results are promising for obtaining practical low-power, continuous-wave and widely tunable multiple harmonic generation on a silicon chip.

Electrical and optical properties of silicide single crystals and thin films

Abstract Electrical transport and optical properties of transition-metal silicides are reviewed. They are integrated with thermal properties of single-crystal silicides. Most of these compounds behave as metals while some of them behave as semiconductors. The former show an increasing electrical resistivity ρ with increasing temperature. Several of them show a non-classical deviation of ρ ( T ) from linearity in the high-temperature limit. This deviation, related to intrinsic properties of the compound, can be affected both in sign and in amount by the presence of foreign atoms (impurities) and structural defects. Moreover, defects dominate the electrical transport at low temperatures both in metallic and semiconducting compounds. Therefore, the interpretation of the electrical properties measured as a function of temperature may give a non-realistic description of silicide intrinsic properties. Since also other physical properties, like thermal and optical ones, can be strongly affected by impurities and defects, results about single-crystal silicides will be first illustrated. Single-crystal preparation and structural characterization are described in detail, with emphasis on crystalline quality in terms of residual resistivity ratio. The electrical quantities, resistivity and magnetoresistance, are measured as a function of temperature and along the main crystallographic directions. The effect of impurities and defects on the transport properties is then evaluated by examining the electrical transport of polycrystalline thin-film silicides. The different contributions to the total resistivity are measured by changing: (i) film stoichiometry, (ii) impurity concentration, (iii) texture growth and (iv) film thickness. Hall-coefficient measurements are briefly discussed with the main purpose to evidence that great caution is necessary when deducing mobility and charge-carrier density values from these data. The theoretical models currently used to interpret the low- and high-temperature resistivity behavior of the metallic silicides are presented and used to fit the experimental resistivity curves. The results of these studies reveal that in several cases there are well-defined temperature ranges in which a specific electron—phonon scattering mechanism dominates. This allows a more detailed study of the microscopic processes. The optical functions from the far-infrared to the vacuum ultraviolet, derived from Kramers—Kronig analysis of reflectance spectra or directly measured by spectroscopic ellipsometry, are presented and discussed for some significant metallic disilicides, both single crystals and polycrystalline films. Different physical phenomena are distinguished in the spectra: intraband transitions at the lowest photon energies, interband transitions at higher energies, and collective oscillations. In particular, the free-carrier response derived from this analysis is compared with the transport results. The interpretation of the experimental spectra is based on the calculated electronic structures or optical functions. Moreover, it is shown how the optical studies contribute to assess definitively the semiconducting character of some disilicides. Specific-heat measurements on single crystals between 0.1 and 8 K are reported. The Debye temperature and the density of electronics states at the Fermi surface are deduced from the lattice and electronic contributions, respectively. Some silicides have been found superconductors with small electron—phonon coupling constants. Emphasis is given to the comparison between the properties deduced from these studies and those obtained from the analysis of electrical transport data. The final part of this review is devoted to the calculation of some microscopic physical quantities, as for example the electron mean free path, the charge-carrier density, the Fermi velocity. The parameters of the best fit to the experimental resistivity curves, the free-carrier parameters obtained from infrared spectra and the density of electronic states at the Fermi surface determined from specific-heat measurements were used in such evaluations.

Quantum dot strain engineering of InAs/InGaAs nanostructures

We present a complete study both by experiments and by model calculations of quantum dot strain engineering, by which a few optical properties of quantum dot nanostructures can be tailored using the strain of quantum dots as a parameter. This approach can be used to redshift beyond 1.31μm and, possibly, towards 1.55μm the room-temperature light emission of InAs quantum dots embedded in InGaAs confining layers grown on GaAs substrates. We show that by controlling simultaneously the lower confining layer thickness and the confining layers’ composition, the energy gap of the quantum dot material and the band discontinuities in the quantum dot nanostructure can be predetermined and then the light emission can be tuned in the spectral region of interest. The availability of two degrees of freedom allows for the control of two parameters, which are the emission energy and the emission efficiency at room temperature. The InAs∕InGaAs structures were grown by the combined use of molecular beam epitaxy and atomic l...

Synthesis and characterization of cluster-assembled carbon thin films

Nanostructured carbon thin films have been produced by deposition of supersonic cluster beams. The clusters are generated by a pulsed arc cluster ion source modified in order to achieve high fluxes and stability. Scanning electron microscopy, Raman, and optical spectroscopy show that the films are a low density network of nanometer-size particles. The nature of the films is essentially graphite-like with a large number of distorted bonds. The formation of structures based on sp3 bondings is not observed. The use of cluster beam deposition for the synthesis of nanocrystalline thin films is discussed.

All-optical switching in silicon-on-insulator photonic wire nano–cavities

All-optical switching with a very low power is demonstrated on photonic crystal wire nano-cavities on silicon-on-insulator with large quality factors and high transmission in the telecom range.

Direct measurement of refractive-index dispersion of transparent media by white-light interferometry

We report on a technique for measuring the refractive indices of nonabsorbing media over a broad spectral range from 0.5 to 5 microm. White-light interferometry based on a double-interferometer system consisting of a fixed Mach-Zehnder interferometer and a Fourier-transform spectrometer is used for direct measurement of the absolute rotation-dependent phase shift induced by an optical element. Refractive index n(lambda) over the whole investigated spectral range is thus obtained directly to an accuracy of 10(-4) without the need for any specific assumption about dispersion. Results for synthetic fused silica are presented and discussed.

The role of wetting layer states on the emission efficiency of InAs/InGaAs metamorphic quantum dot nanostructures

We report on a photoluminescence and photoreflectance study of metamorphic InAs/InGaAs quantum dot strain-engineered structures with and without additional InAlAs barriers intended to limit the carrier escape from the embedded quantum dots. From: (1) the substantial correspondence of the activation energies for thermal quenching of photoluminescence and the differences between wetting layer and quantum dot transition energies and (2) the unique capability of photoreflectance of assessing the confined nature of the escape states, we confidently identify the wetting layer states as the final ones of the process of carrier thermal escape from quantum dots, which is responsible for the photoluminescence quenching. Consistently, by studying structures with additional InAlAs barriers, we show that a significant reduction of the photoluminescence quenching can be obtained by the increase of the energy separation between wetting layers and quantum dot states that results from the insertion of enhanced barriers. These results provide useful indications on the light emission quenching in metamorphic quantum dot strain-engineered structures; such indications allow us to obtain light emission at room temperature in the 1.55 microm range and beyond by quantum dot nanostructures grown on GaAs substrates.

Metamorphic buffers and optical measurement of residual strain

We show that the residual strain occurring in constant-composition metamorphic buffer layers of III–V heterostructures can be accurately predicted by the suitable design of the epitaxial structures and measured all optically by means of photoreflectance spectroscopy. This result allows one to single out the nonequilibrium models among those that have been proposed to predict strain relaxation. The resulting ∝t−1∕2 dependence of the residual in-plane strain on buffer thickness t can be used to design metamorphic buffers not only for 1.3–1.55μm emitting quantum dot structures, but also for sophisticated graded-composition metamorphic structures for different classes of devices.

Induction-model analysis of SiH stretching mode in porous silicon

Abstract A detailed study of SiH stretching in porous silicon was performed based on the induction model. Good agreement with experimental infrared absorption spectra was achieved considering the oxygen nearest-neighbors and next nearest-neighbors. Carbon presence in the samples was detected and its influence on SiH stretching was determined.

Photoreflectance and reflectance investigation of deuterium-irradiated GaAsN

The effect of deuterium irradiation on the optical and strain properties of GaAsN∕GaAs heterostructures was investigated by photoreflectance and reflectance techniques. The strain occurring in as-grown and deuterated GaAsN layers is monitored and measured by means of photoreflectance spectroscopy, highlighting the strain inversion after irradiation. By combining static and modulated reflectance results, evidence is given that the deuterium-induced recovery of the GaAs band gap as well as the strain inversion in GaAsN layers are accompanied by a 0.4%–0.8% reduction of the refractive index in the 1.31 and 1.55μm spectral windows of interest for fiber optic communications. These results anticipate a single step process to an in-plane confinement of carriers and photons.