J. Leymarie

Determination of the refractive indices of AlN, GaN, and AlxGa1−xN grown on (111)Si substrates

The refractive indices of several AlxGa1−xN alloys deposited on silicon are determined by ellipsometry and reflectivity experiments at room temperature. The AlGaN layers are grown on (111)Si substrate by molecular-beam epitaxy on top of an AlN/GaN/AlN buffer in order to reduce the strain of the alloy. The Al composition is deduced from energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy and photoluminescence experiments. The refractive index n and the extinction coefficient k are determined in the 300–600 nm range. For the transparent region of AlxGa1−xN, the refractive index is given in form of a Sellmeier law.

InGaN/GaN quantum wells grown by molecular-beam epitaxy emitting from blue to red at 300 K

InGaN/GaN quantum wells (QWs) were grown by molecular-beam epitaxy on c-plane sapphire substrates. The growth of InGaN is carried out at 550 °C with a large V/III ratio to counteract the low efficiency of NH3 at that temperature and to promote the two-dimensional mode of growth. An In composition of 16%±2% was determined by high-resolution x-ray diffraction experiments. Room-temperature photoluminescence of InGaN/GaN single QWs can be obtained over the whole visible spectrum (from 0.4 to 0.66 μm) by varying the well thickness from 1 to 5 nm. These heterostructures exhibit very large Stokes shifts between the emission and the absorption edge energies.

Polariton lasing in a hybrid bulk ZnO microcavity

We demonstrate polariton lasing in a bulk ZnO planar microcavity under non-resonant optical pumping at a small negative detuning (δ ∼ −1/6 the 130 meV vacuum Rabi splitting) and a temperature of 120 K. The strong coupling regime is maintained at lasing threshold since the coherent nonlinear emission from the lower polariton branch occurs at zero in-plane wavevector well below the uncoupled cavity mode. The contribution of multiple localized polariton modes above threshold and the non-thermal polariton statistics show that the system is in a far-from-equilibrium regime, likely related to the moderate photon lifetime and in-plane photonic disorder in the cavity.

Strong light-matter coupling at room temperature in simple geometry GaN microcavities grown on silicon

The reflectance spectra of simple design GaN-based microcavities have been studied in the 5 K–300 K range. The epitaxial structure consists of the silicon substrate and the stack of buffer layers as the back mirror, a GaN active layer, and a 100 A thick aluminium layer as the top mirror. Active layer thicknesses of λ∕2, λ, or 3λ∕2 were investigated. The samples with GaN thicknesses λ∕2 and λ display an anticrossing behavior between the cavity and exciton modes, with measured Rabi splittings of 47 and 60 meV, respectively, both at 5 K and room temperature.

Temperature dependence of optical properties of h-GaN films studied by reflectivity and ellipsometry

Spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) carried out at 300 K together with reflectivity measurements performed from 5 to 300 K are used to determine the temperature dependence of the refractive index of hexagonal GaN films between 360 and 600 nm. The refractive index is well described with a Sellmeier dispersion law and its variation with temperature is given. Below the band gap, the three excitonic features (labelled A, B and C) appearing in the reflectivity spectra are analysed within a multi-polariton model which includes the spatial dispersion. The transition energy, broadening parameter and oscillator strength are derived. The temperature dependence of A and B broadening parameters is analysed.

Ultralong and defect-free GaN nanowires grown by the HVPE process.

GaN nanowires with exceptional lengths are synthesized by vapor-liquid-solid coupled with near-equilibrium hydride vapor phase epitaxy technique on c-plane sapphire substrates. Because of the high decomposition frequency of GaCl precursors and a direct supply of Ga through the catalyst particle, the growth of GaN nanowires with constant diameters takes place at an exceptional growth rate of 130 μm/h. The chemical composition of the catalyst droplet is analyzed by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy and selective area diffraction show that the GaN nanowires crystallize in the hexagonal wurzite structure and are defect-free. GaN nanowires exhibit bare top facets without any droplet. Microphotoluminescence displays a narrow and intense emission line (1 meV line width) associated to the neutral-donor bound exciton revealing excellent optical properties of GaN nanowires.

Experimental observation of strong light-matter coupling in ZnO microcavities: Influence of large excitonic absorption

We present experimental observation of the strong light-matter coupling regime in ZnO bulk microcavities grown on silicon. Angle resolved reflectivity measurements, corroborated by transfer-matrix simulations, show that Rabi splittings in the order of 70 meV are achieved even for low finesse cavities. The impact of the large excitonic absorption, which enables a ZnO bulk-like behavior to be observed even in the strong coupling regime, is illustrated both experimentally and theoretically by considering cavities with increasing thickness.

Fabrication and characterization of a room-temperature ZnO polariton laser

A ZnO planar optical microcavity displaying room-temperature polariton lasing over a wide range of cavity-exciton detunings has been fabricated. The cavity combines optimum crystalline quality, given by a ZnO single-crystal substrate, and optimum photonic quality, obtained by the use of two dielectric SiO2/HfO2 Bragg mirrors. A maximum cavity quality factor of about 4000 has been measured. Typically, the polariton lasing transition is accompanied by an increase of the output intensity by more than two orders of magnitude, a reduction of the emission linewidth and a relatively small blueshift of the lower polariton branch (less than 5% of the Rabi splitting).

Relaxation and emission of Bragg-mode and cavity-mode polaritons in a ZnO microcavity at room temperature

The strong coupling regime in a ZnO microcavity is investigated through room temperature photoluminescence and reflectivity experiments. The simultaneous strong coupling of excitons to the cavity mode and the first Bragg mode is demonstrated at room temperature. The polariton relaxation is followed as a function of the excitation density. A relaxation bottleneck is evidenced in the Bragg-mode polariton branch. It is partly broken under strong excitation density, so that the emission from this branch dominates the one from cavity-mode polaritons.

Growth by molecular beam epitaxy and optical properties of a Ten-period AlGan/AlN distributed Bragg reflector on (111)Si

This paper reports the growth of GaN, (Al,Ga)N and AlN layers on (111)Si substrates by molecular beam epitaxy using ammonia. Using proper conditions, GaN layers with threading dislocation densities as low as 5 x 10 9 cm -2 can be obtained on (111)Si. The structural and optical properties of GaN and (Al,Ga)N have been studied using electron microscopy, photoluminescence and reflectivity. In particular, the tensile strain has been assessed. Finally, a ten-period Al 0.2 Ga 0.8 N/AlN Bragg mirror has been grown, with a UV (340 nm) centered bandwidth of 35 nm and peak reflectivity of 78%.