The mid-IR spectroscopic properties of doped low-phonon and crystals grown by the Bridgman technique have been investigated. Using optical excitations at and , both crystals exhibited IR emissions at , , , and at room temperature. The mid-IR emission at 4.5 µm, originating from the transition, showed a long emission lifetime of for doped , whereas doped exhibited a shorter lifetime of . The measured emission lifetimes of the state were nearly independent of the temperature, indicating a negligibly small nonradiative decay rate through multiphonon relaxation, as predicted by the energy-gap law for low-maximum-phonon energy hosts. The room temperature stimulated emission cross sections for the transition in doped and were determined to be and , respectively. The results of Judd–Ofelt analysis are presented and discussed.
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Ultra-thin plasmonic detectors
Plasmonic materials, and their ability to enable strong concentration of optical fields, have offered a tantalizing foundation for the demonstration of sub-diffraction-limit photonic devices. However, practical and scalable plasmonic optoelectronics for real world applications remain elusive. In this work, we present an infrared photodetector leveraging a device architecture consisting of a “designer” epitaxial plasmonic metal integrated with a quantum-engineered detector structure, all in a mature III-V semiconductor material system. Incident light is coupled into surface plasmon-polariton modes at the detector/designer metal interface, and the strong confinement of these modes allows for a sub-diffractive ( ) detector absorber layer thickness, effectively decoupling the detector’s absorption efficiency and dark current. We demonstrate high-performance detectors operating at non-cryogenic temperatures ( ), without sacrificing external quantum efficiency, and superior to well-established and commercially available detectors. This work provides a practical and scalable plasmonic optoelectronic device architecture with real world mid-infrared applications.
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- PAR ID:
- 10373319
- Publisher / Repository:
- Optical Society of America
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Optica
- Volume:
- 8
- Issue:
- 12
- ISSN:
- 2334-2536
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: Article No. 1545
- Size(s):
- Article No. 1545
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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