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Optical bistability and its potential for optical signal processing and communications are reviewed. Recent experimental results in semiconductor optical bistability are presented. In particular, optical bistability in GaAs-AlGaAs superlattices and CuCl, ZnS, and ZnSe is discussed.
The dual-beam diode laser spectrometer described by Jennings (1980) is adapted to use a 50-cm confocal etalon for frequency calibration. The collimated radiation from the laser is split at a wedged ZnSe window, and the reference beam is then focused at the midpoint of the etalon length. After the etalon, the reference beam is recollimated and continues its regular path to the monochromator and detectors. An aperture is placed before the etalon in order to limit the entrance beam diameter to approximately 5 mm. Both ends of the etalon are furnished with two-axis adjustments. Initial alignment is achieved using an He-Ne laser, and final optimization involves adjustment of the cavity length as well as the etalon pitch and yaw. The 50-cm confocal etalon produces fringes separated by 150 MHz (0.005/cm). With the aid of a CO2 laser, it is found to have fringe widths (FWHM) of 2 MHz. The confocal etalon makes it possible to improve the accuracy of relative frequency measurements in diode laser spectra and to check the spectral purity and stability of the laser during the recording of spectra.
Diamondlike carbon (DLC) films have the potential to protect optical windows in applications where it is important to maintain the integrity of the specular transmittance of these films on ZnS and ZnSe infrared transmitting windows. The films must be adherent and durable such that they protect the windows from rain and particle erosion as well as chemical attack. In order to optimize the performance of these films, 0.1 micro m thick diamondlike carbon films were deposited on fused silica and silicon wafers, using three different methods of ion beam deposition. One method was sputter deposition from a carbon target using an 8 cm ion source. The merits of hydrogen addition were experimentally evaluated in conjunction with this method. The second method used a 30 cm hollow cathode ion source with hydrocarbon/Argon gases to deposit diamondlike carbon films from the primary beam at 90 to 250 eV. The third method used a dual beam system employing a hydrocarbon/Argon 30 cm ion source and an 8 cm ion source. Films were evaluated for adherence, intrinsic stress, infrared transmittance between 2.5 and 50 micro m, and protection from particle erosion. An erosion test using a sandblaster was used to give quantitative values of the protection afforded to the fused silica by the diamondlike carbon films. The fused silica surfaces protected by diamondlike carbon films were exposed to 100 micro m diameter SiO particles at 60 mi/hr (26.8/sec) in the sandblaster.
Electroluminescent materials and device technology were assessed. The evaluation strongly suggests the need for a comprehensive theoretical and experimental study of both materials and device structures, particularly in the following areas: carrier generation and multiplication; radiative and nonradiative processes of luminescent centers; device modeling; new device concepts; and single crystal materials growth and characterization. Modeling of transport properties of hot electrons in ZnSe and the generation of device concepts were initiated.
A highly efficient DC electroluminescent display is presented. A variably spaced superlattice structure is used to produce high energy injection of electrons into a ZnSe:Mn active layer in which impact excitation of the Mn centers can occur. The device is predicted to operate at an applied external bias on order of magnitude less than the best DC electroluminescent device to date. The device is predicted to have comparable brightness, since it operates in the saturation regime. The improved efficiency stems from avoiding significant energy loss to phonons. The electrons sequentially tunnel through a multilayer ZnSe/CaSrF2 stack under bias and emerge into the active layer at an energy equal to the conduction band bending. The injection energy is chosen to coincide with the impact excitation energy of the Mn centers. Different device designs are presented and their performance is predicted.
A new, highly efficient dc electroluminescent display is presented. A variably spaced superlattice scheme is suggested herein which can produce high-energy injection of electrons into a ZnSe:Mn active layer in which impact excitation of the Mn centers can occur. The device is predicted to operate at an applied external bias an order of magnitude less than the best dc electroluminescent device to date. The device is predicted to have comparable brightness, since it operates in the saturation regime. The improved efficiency stems from avoiding significant energy loss to phonons. The electrons sequentially tunnel through a multilayer stack under bias and emerge into the active layer at an energy equal to the conduction-band bending. The injection energy is chosen to coincide with the impact excitation energy of the Mn centers. Different device designs are presented and their performance is predicted.
The goals of this research are two-fold: to study effective means of growing ZnSe crystals of good optical quality and to determine the advantages of growing such crystals in microgravity. As of this date the optimal conditions for crystal growth have not been determined. However, successful growth runs were made in two furnances and the results are given.
During this report period work was performed on the modeling of High Field Electronic Transport in Bulk ZnS and ZnSe, and also on the surface cleaning of Si for MBE growth. Some MBE growth runs have also been performed in the Varian GEN II System. A brief outline of the experimental work is given. A complete summary will be done at the end of the next reporting period at the completion of the investigation. The theoretical studies are included.
Growth and characterization studies will be performed on zinc selenide single crystals. The high temperature outgassing behavior of the silica ampoule material will be studied in order to develop a cleaning and bake-out procedure that will minimize the amount of impurities introduced into the vapor from the ampoule materials and in particular during the seal-off procedure. The outgassing behavior of the ZnSe starting material will be studied during high vacuum refinement at elevated temperatures in order to develop a temperature pressure program that will optimize the removal of impurities while minimizing a shift in stoichiometry due to preferred evaporation of the higher fugacity component. The mass spectrometer system was completed, and after calibration, will be used to perform the above tasks. The system and its operation is described in detail.
The aim of this experiment was to test the optical behavior of 20 components and coatings subjected to space exposure. Most of them are commonly used for their reflective or transmittive properties in spaceborne optics. They consist in several kind of metallic and dielectric mirrors designed for the 0.12 to 10 microns spectrum, UV, and NIR bandpass filters, visible, and IR antireflecting coatings, visible/IR dichroic beam splitters, and visible beam splitter. The coatings were deposited on various substrates such as glasses, germanium, magnesium fluoride, quartz, zinc selenide, and kanigened aluminum. Several coating materials were used such as Al, Ag, Au, MgF2, LaF3, ThF3, ThF4, SiO2, TiO2, ZrO2, Al2O3, MgO, Ge, and ZnSe. Five samples of each component were manufactured. Two flight samples were mounted in such a way that one was directly exposed to space and the other looking backwards. The same arrangement was used for the spare samples stored on ground in a box identical to the flight one and they were kept under vacuum during the LDEF mission. Finally, one set of reference components was stocked in a sealed box under a dry nitrogen atmosphere. By comparing the preflight and postflight optical performances of the five samples of each component, it is possible to detect the degradations due to the space exposure.
Various papers on scatter from optical components are presented. Individual topics addressed include: BRDF of SiC and Al foam compared to black paint at 3.39 microns, characterization of optical baffle materials, bidirectional transmittance distribution function of several IR materials at 3.39 microns, thermal cycling effects on the BRDF of beryllium mirrors, BTDV of ZnSe with multilayer coatings at 3.39 microns, scattering from contaminated surfaces, cleanliness correlation by BRDF and PFO instruments, contamination effects on optical surfaces, means of eliminating the effects of particulate contamination on scatter measurements of superfine optical surfaces, vacuum BRDF measurement of cryogenic optical surfaces, Monte Carlo simulation of contaminant transport to and deposition on complex spacecraft surfaces, surface particle observation and BRDF predictions, satellite material contaminant optical properties, dark field photographic techniques for documenting optical surface contamination, design of a laboratory study of contaminant film darkening in space, contamination monitoring approaches for EUV space optics.
Thin films of cubic form of gallium sulfide (GaS) formed on surfaces of gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrates via metal/organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Deposited cubic GaS, crystalline lattice matched to substrate GaAs, neutralizes electrically active defects on surfaces of both n-doped and p-doped GaAs. Enabling important GaAs-based semiconducting materials to serve as substrates for metal/insulator/semiconductor (MIS) capacitors. Cubic GaS enables fabrication of ZnSe-based blue lasers and light-emitting diodes. Because GaS is optically transparent, deposited to form window layers for such optoelectronic devices as light-emitting diodes, solar optical cells, and semiconductor lasers. Its transparency makes it useful as interconnection material in optoelectronic integrated circuits. Also useful in peeled-film technology because selectively etched from GaAs.
The goals of this research were the optimization of growth parameters for large (20 mm diameter and length) zinc selenide single crystals with low structural defect density, and the development of a 3-D numerical model for the transport rates to be expected in physical vapor transport under a given set of thermal and geometrical boundary conditions, in order to provide guidance for an advantageous conduct of the growth experiments. In the crystal growth studies, it was decided to exclusively apply the Effusive Ampoule PVT technique (EAPVT) to the growth of ZnSe. In this technique, the accumulation of transport-limiting gaseous components at the growing crystal is suppressed by continuous effusion to vacuum of part of the vapor contents. This is achieved through calibrated leaks in one of the ground joints of the ampoule. Regarding the PVT transport rates, a 3-D spectral code was modified. After introduction of the proper boundary conditions and subroutines for the composition-dependent transport properties, the code reproduced the experimentally determined transport rates for the two cases with strongest convective flux contributions to within the experimental and numerical error.
Ground-based investigation of the crystal growth of II-VI semiconductor compounds, including CdTe, CdS, ZnTe, and ZnSe, by physical vapor transport in closed ampoules was performed. The crystal growth experimental process and supporting activities--preparation and heat treatment of starting materials, vapor partial pressure measurements, and transport rate measurements are reported. The results of crystal characterization, including microscopy, microstructure, optical transmission photoluminescence, synchrotron radiation topography, and chemical analysis by spark source mass spectrography, are also discussed.
The studies on the crystal growth and characterization of II-VI wide band gap compound semiconductors, such as ZnTe, CdS, ZnSe and ZnS, have been conducted over the past three decades. The research was not quite as extensive as that on Si, III-V, or even narrow band gap II-VI semiconductors because of the high melting temperatures as well as the specialized applications associated with these wide band gap semiconductors. In the past several years, major advances in the thin film technology such as Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) and Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) have demonstrated the applications of these materials for the important devices such as light-emitting diode, laser and ultraviolet detectors and the tunability of energy band gap by employing ternary or even quaternary systems of these compounds. At the same time, the development in the crystal growth of bulk materials has not advanced far enough to provide low price, high quality substrates needed for the thin film growth technology.
Six ZnSe(1-x)Te(x) crystals were grown by the physical vapor transport technique. For each of the source material compositions, x = 0.10, 0.20 and 0.30, two crystals were grown - one under the horizontal and the other under the vertical stabilized configurations. The axial and radial compositional uniformity were measured by precision density measurements, wavelength dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (WDS) and optical transmission mappings. The measured radial ZnTe content was quite uniform for all the grown crystals except the horizontally grown crystal for x = 0.30. The WDS results on this crystal indicated a core with uniform ZnTe content, about 0.38, surrounded by a thin region of high ZnTe content with x = 0.8. This feature was confirmed by the SEM back scattering electron images. For the three source compositions the axial compositional variations for the vertically grown crystals were more uniform than that for the horizontally grown crystals. The measured compositions in the crystals grown from source composition of x = 0.10 suggest that the transport mechanism in the system can not be interpreted by a simple one-dimensional diffusion limited model.
Hg(1-x)Zn(x)Se alloys have been studied as an alternative to HgCdTe for the detection of electromagnetic radiation, because the shorter ZnSe and HgSe bonds were predicted to improve lattice stability. Previous studies showed that optical properties were stable with time and that the microhardness was higher than for HgTe based alloys. However, for this material to be commercially viable, compositional variations must be reduced, and the distribution of defects induced by the growth process must be understood. The basic structural properties of bulk materials were characterized, and dislocation etch pit densities were measured to determine whether the addition of Zn to the HgSe lattice reduced the potential for dislocation formation. Hg(0.9)Zn(0.1)Se alloys were directionally solidified using a modified Bridgman-Stockbarger method and in an applied magnetic field. Radial compositional variations were greatly reduced when solidification occurred in an applied magnetic field. The combination of a convex liquid-solid interface shape and a method for reduced wetting produced boules that were a single crystal after reaching full diameter. Observed surface features indicated ampoule wetting could be eliminated using a graphite getter. Microstructural characteristics were greatly improved over HgCdTe alloys, In six boules, a total of only one twin was observed, and no inclusions were found. A method for polishing and producing dislocation etch pits was developed for these alloys, revealing dislocation etch pit densities one to two orders of magnitude less than HgTe based alloys. A kink in the thermal profile during processing of one boule generated more dislocations than did lattice mismatch due to compositional variations. The results of this investigation indicate this alloy has improved microstructural properties and resistance to dislocation formation compared with similar II-VI alloys, and should be further investigated for the detection of electromagnetic radiation.
Presence of different, non-constituent gases may be a critical factor in crystal growth systems. In Physical Vapor Transport processes the cras(es) can be used intentionally (to prevent excessively high, unstable growth conditions), or can evolve unintentionally during the course of the process (which may lead to undesired reduction in the -rowth rate). In melt growth, particularly under low gravity conditions (reduced hydrostatic pressure) the gas present in the system may contribute to formation of voids in the growing crystals and even to a separation of the crystal and the liquid phase [1]. On the other hand, some amount of gas may facilitate 'contactless' crystal growth particularly under reduced gravity conditions [2 - 6]. Different non-constituent gases may be present in growth ampoules, and their amount and composition may change during the crystallization process. Some gases can appear even in empty ampoules sealed originally under high vacuum: they may diffuse in from the outside, and/or desorb from the ampoule walls. Residual gases can also be generated by the source materials: even very high purity commercial elements and compounds may contain trace amounts of impurities, particularly oxides. The oxides may have low volatilities themselves but their reaction with other species, particularly carbon and hydrogen, may produce volatile compounds like water or carbon oxides. The non-constituent gases, either added initially to the system or evolved during the material processing, may diffuse out of the ampoule during the course of the experiment. Gases present outside (e.g. as a protective atmosphere or thermal conductor) may diffuse into the ampoule. In either case the growth conditions and the quality of the crystals may be affected. The problem is of a particular importance in sealed systems where the amount of the gases cannot be directly controlled. Therefore a reasonable knowledge and understanding of the origin, composition, magnitude, and change with time of gases present in sealed ampoules may be important for a meaningful control and interpretation of crystal growth processes. This problem is of a particular importance for processing of electronic materials in space because (i) safety considerations require using sealed systems only, and (ii) high cost of crystal growth experiments in microgravity calls for a throughout, accurate description of the processing conditions necessary for a meaningful, efficient, and conclusive interpretation of the space results. In this paper we present the results of our extensive studies on gases in closed crystal growth systems which include: (a) Degassing properties of fused silica; (b) Generation of inert gases by source materials (CdTe, ZnTe, CdZnTe, ZnSe, PbTe, PbSe, PbSeTe); (c) Diffusive cas losses from silica glass ampoules.