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1. Growth of α-Ga ₂ O ₃ on α-Al ₂ O ₃ by conventional molecular-beam epitaxy and metal–oxide-catalyzed epitaxy

   https://doi.org/10.35848/1347-4065/acbe04  

   McCandless, J. P.; Rowe, D.; Pieczulewski, N.; Protasenko, V.; Alonso-Orts, M.; Williams, M. S.; Eickhoff, M.; Xing, H. G.; Muller, D. A.; Jena, D.; et al (March 2023, Japanese Journal of Applied Physics)

   Abstract We report the growth of α -Ga 2 O 3 on m -plane α -Al 2 O 3 by conventional plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy and In-mediated metal–oxide-catalyzed epitaxy (MOCATAXY). We report a growth rate diagram for α -Ga 2 O 3 ( 10 1 ¯ 0 ), and observe (i) a growth rate increase, (ii) an expanded growth window, and (iii) reduced out-of-lane mosaic spread when MOCATAXY is employed for the growth of α -Ga 2 O 3 . Through the use of In-mediated catalysis, growth rates over 0.2 μ m h −1 and rocking curves with full width at half maxima of Δ ω ≈ 0.45° are achieved. Faceting is observed along the α -Ga 2 O 3 film surface and explored through scanning transmission electron microscopy. 

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2. H trapping at the metastable cation vacancy in α -Ga ₂ O ₃ and α -Al ₂ O ₃

   https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0094707  

   Venzie, Andrew; Portoff, Amanda; Stavola, Michael; Fowler, W. Beall; Kim, Jihyun; Jeon, Dae-Woo; Park, Ji-Hyeon; Pearton, Stephen J. (May 2022, Applied Physics Letters)

   α-Ga₂O₃has the corundum structure analogous to that of α-Al₂O₃. The bandgap energy of α-Ga₂O₃is 5.3 eV and is greater than that of β-Ga₂O₃, making the α-phase attractive for devices that benefit from its wider bandgap. The O–H and O–D centers produced by the implantation of H⁺and D⁺into α-Ga₂O₃have been studied by infrared spectroscopy and complementary theory. An O–H line at 3269 cm⁻¹is assigned to H complexed with a Ga vacancy (V_Ga), similar to the case of H trapped by an Al vacancy (V_Al) in α-Al₂O₃. The isolated V_Gaand V_Aldefects in α-Ga₂O₃and α-Al₂O₃are found by theory to have a “shifted” vacancy-interstitial-vacancy equilibrium configuration, similar to V_Gain β-Ga₂O₃, which also has shifted structures. However, the addition of H causes the complex with H trapped at an unshifted vacancy to have the lowest energy in both α-Ga₂O₃and α-Al₂O₃. 

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3. Electrical properties of α-Ga ₂ O ₃ films grown by halide vapor phase epitaxy on sapphire with α-Cr ₂ O ₃ buffers

   https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0090832  

   Polyakov, Alexander; Nikolaev, Vladimir; Stepanov, Sergey; Almaev, Alexei; Pechnikov, Alexei; Yakimov, Eugene; Kushnarev, Bogdan O.; Shchemerov, Ivan; Scheglov, Mikhail; Chernykh, Alexey; et al (June 2022, Journal of Applied Physics)

   We report on growth and electrical properties of α-Ga₂O₃films prepared by halide vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) at 500 °C on α-Cr₂O₃buffers predeposited on sapphire by magnetron sputtering. The α-Cr₂O₃buffers showed a wide microcathodoluminescence (MCL) peak near 350 nm corresponding to the α-Cr₂O₃bandgap and a sharp MCL line near 700 nm due to the Cr⁺intracenter transition. Ohmic contacts to Cr₂O₃were made with both Ti/Au or Ni, producing linear current–voltage ( I– V) characteristics over a wide temperature range with an activation energy of conductivity of ∼75 meV. The sign of thermoelectric power indicated p-type conductivity of the buffers. Sn-doped, 2- μm-thick α-Ga₂O₃films prepared on this buffer by HVPE showed donor ionization energies of 0.2–0.25 eV, while undoped films were resistive with the Fermi level pinned at E_Cof 0.3 eV. The I– V and capacitance–voltage ( C– V) characteristics of Ni Schottky diodes on Sn-doped samples using a Cr₂O₃buffer indicated the presence of two face-to-face junctions, one between n-Ga₂O₃and p-Cr₂O₃, the other due to the Ni Schottky diode with n-Ga₂O₃. The spectral dependence of the photocurrent measured on the structure showed the presence of three major deep traps with optical ionization thresholds near 1.3, 2, and 2.8 eV. Photoinduced current transient spectroscopy spectra of the structures were dominated by deep traps with an ionization energy of 0.95 eV. These experiments suggest another pathway to obtain p–n heterojunctions in the α-Ga₂O₃system. 

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4. Direct C–H α-Arylation of Enones with ArI(O ₂ CR) ₂ Reagents

   https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.9b11282  

   Sousa e Silva, Felipe Cesar; Van, Nguyen T.; Wengryniuk, Sarah E. (December 2019, Journal of the American Chemical Society)
5. Twist-engineered phonon polaritons in α − V ₂ O ₅

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.557267  

   Shiravi, H.; Zheng, W.; He, Y.; Ran, S.; Rhodes, D_A; Balicas, L.; Zhou, H_D; Ni, G_X (April 2025, Optics Letters)

   The advent of layered materials has unveiled new opportunities for tailoring electromagnetic waves at the subwavelength scale, particularly through the study of polaritons, a hybrid light–matter excitation. In this context, twist-optics, which investigates the optical properties of twisted stacks of van der Waals (vdW) layered specimens, has emerged as a powerful tool. Here, we explore the tunability of phonon polaritons in α-V₂O₅via interlayer twisting using scanning nano-infrared (IR) imaging. We show that the polaritonic response can be finely adjusted by varying their interlayer electromagnetic coupling, allowing for precise control over the propagation direction and phase transition from open unidirectional iso-frequency contours to closed elliptic geometries. Our experimental results, in conjugate with theoretical modeling, reveal the mechanisms underpinning this tunability, highlighting the role of twist-induced nano-light modifications for advanced nanophotonic control at the nanoscale. 

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