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Cadmium arsenide (Cd3As2), an emerging three-dimensional Dirac semimetal, has recently generated significant interest in the area of ultrafast optics and optoelectronics. However, its nonlinear susceptibility has not been experimentally studied; thus, it is not yet possible to evaluate its potential in nonlinear optics. In this work, we investigate third harmonic generation (THG) in a 100 nm thick Cd3As2 film using broadband infrared femtosecond lasers (across 1500–2350 nm). The χ3 of Cd3As2 (2.30 × 10−19 m2 V−2) is obtained by comparing the THG spectra with a glass substrate, graphene, and monolayer MoS2. We further demonstrate a simple approach to enhance the THG signal by introducing an underlying planar micro-cavity. An enhancement of about 420 times in the THG signal was recorded at ≃1560 nm. Our results indicate that Cd3As2 thin films can provide a similar platform for nonlinear optics with respect to graphene and may offer unique potential in the mid-infrared due to its broadband light–matter interaction and excellent tunability.

By employing optical pump Terahertz (THz) probe spectroscopy, a three dimensional (3D) Dirac semimetal, Cd3As2 film, was investigated systematically at room temperature. After photoexcitation at 400/800 nm, the rise time of photoenhanced THz photoconductivity (PC) is about ∼1.0 ps, increasing slightly with the pump fluence, in which time scale, photoexcited electrons and holes establish separate Fermi distribution with electrons in the conduction band and holes in the valence band via fast carrier-carrier scattering and carrier-phonon coupling. The subsequent THz PC relaxation shows single exponential decay with a time constant of ∼6.0 ps that is independent of pump fluence. The relaxation process is dominated by the electron-hole recombination via a radiative and nonradiative way, which is mediated by the phonon-phonon scattering. The optically induced THz complex PC can be well fitted with the Drude-Smith model. Our experimental results shed light on understanding the photocarrier dynamics of the 3D Dirac semimetal materials at THz frequency.

We report the electrical transport properties of topological Dirac semimetal Cd3As2. Unlike the ordinary Hall resistance with linear slope and the parabolic magnetoresistance (MR) in conventional semiconductors, the linear-band dispersion in this system give rise to a high electron mobility of 3.4 x 10(4) cm/V s and a giant linear MR exceeding 5 x 10(3) % at 2.1 K. More importantly, the large Hall angle-induced phenomena can be captured by applying a generic two-band magneto-transport model on both the Hall and MR data, and the fitting results are consistent over the entire temperature range from 2.1K to 350 K. Furthermore, the large-Hall-angle condition also enables the observation of distinct quantum oscillations with non-trivial band topology of the Cd3As2 sample at low temperatures. Our work provides a general approach to investigate the high-mobility topological Dirac semimetals and their potential applications. Published by AIP Publishing.

The hot-carrier relaxation dynamics of Cd3As2 thin films has been investigated by using femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy in a transmission geometry. A comparative study of degenerate and non-degenerate experiments reveals that hot-carrier distribution in Cd3As2 is established with a time constant of ∼400 fs. Significantly, the broadband measurements allow the extraction of the time evolution of electron temperature and the carrier-phonon coupling factor g = 5.3 × 1015 W m−3 K−1 is deduced by a semiclassical two-temperature model. These results provide fundamental insights into the hot-carrier dynamics of Cd3As2.

We report high-quality topological insulator Bi2Te3 thin films grown on muscovite mica substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. The topographic and structural analysis revealed that the Bi2Te3 thin films exhibited atomically smooth terraces over a large area and a high crystalline quality. Both weak antilocalization effect and quantum oscillations were observed in the magnetotransport of the relatively thin samples. A phase coherence length of 277 nm for a 6 nm thin film and a high surface mobility of 0.58 m2 V−1 s−1 for a 4 nm thin film were achieved. These results confirm that the thin films grown on mica are of high quality.

We have fabricated a metallic nanomesh using nanosphere lithography and metal evaporation. The metallic nanomesh has a precisely controlled nanostructure showing excellent uniformity with hexagonally arrayed periodic circular holes. A P3HT:PCBM organic solar cell, with the gold nanomesh electrode, demonstrates a high fill factor of 61% and a considerable power conversion efficiency of 3.12%. Electromagnetic simulation indicates that the optical properties of the metallic nanomesh can be optimized for organic photovoltaic devices by tuning the film thickness, hole diameter, and periodicity. These results show the promising potential of using a metallic nanomesh as the transparent electrode in organic solar cells.

Fermi level (FL) pinning at the Ge valence band results in a high Schottky barrier height for all metal/n-Ge contacts. The origin of this pinning effect has been ascribed to either metal induced gap states or surface states arise from the native defects at the Ge surface, such as dangling bonds. The discrepancy in the reported results/explanations is mainly due to the lack of an explicit characterization of a high quality metal/Ge or metal/ultrathin oxide/Ge junction, which should be ideally single crystalline, atomically smooth and free of process-induced defects or intermixing. We report the Schottky characteristics of high quality metal/MgO/n-Ge junctions with the ultrathin MgO epitaxially grown on Ge. We find the depinning effect displays a weak dependence on the MgO thickness, indicating the interface states due to the native defects on Ge surface are likely to play the dominant role in FL pinning. © 2010 American Institute of Physics

Magnetic and structural properties of a Ge0.96Mn0.04 thin film grown on Si has been investigated by transmission electron microscopy and superconducting quantum interference device. Tadpole shaped coherent GeMn clusters induced by spinodal decomposition were revealed in the film. Although these coherent clusters are dominant, Mn5Ge3 precipitates can be still detectable, contributing to a complex ferromagnetism. The Ge buffer layer, by relieving the misfit strain between Si and Ge, can significantly reduce the density of lattice defects in the subsequent GeMn layer. Our findings unveil a particular morphology of GeMn clusters, which would contribute to better understand the GeMn system.

Bipolar doping in wide bandgap semiconductors is difficult to achieve under equilibrium conditions because of the spontaneous formation of compensating defects and unfavorable energetics for dopant substitution. In this work, we explored the use of rapid pulse thermal processing for activating nitrogen dopants into acceptor states in ZnO. Low-temperature photoluminescence spectra revealed both acceptor-bound exciton (AX0) and donor-acceptor pair emissions, which present direct evidence for acceptors generated after pulse thermal processing of nitrogen-doped ZnO. This work suggests that pulse thermal processing is potentially an effective method for p-type doping of ZnO.

Bi-doped ZnO films were grown on Si (111) substrates by molecular-beam epitaxy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and diffraction measurements reveal that Bi was incorporated into ZnO films without any phase separation. Room-temperature Hall effect measurements show a significant reduction of electron concentration and an increase of resistivity for Bi-doped ZnO films. In addition, a 3.222eV photoluminescence emission was observed particularly in the Bi-doped ZnO films and was identified as a donor-acceptor pair transition by temperature-dependent and excitation power-dependent photoluminescence measurements. These results indicate the possibility of generating acceptor states by Bi doping.

The characteristics of an acceptor level in Sb-doped, p-type ZnO were studied using cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy as a function of hole concentration. Variable-temperature CL measurements allowed us to estimate the activation energy of an Sb-related acceptor from temperature-induced decay of CL intensity. The values of activation energy of about 212±28, 175±20, 158±22, and 135±15meV were obtained for samples with carrier concentrations of 1.3×1017, 6.0×1017, 8.2×1017, and 1.3×1018cm−3, respectively. The involvement of acceptor levels is supported by the temperature-dependent hole concentration measurements. The possible origins of the strong temperature dependence are discussed.

Phosphorus-doped ZnO films were grown by molecular-beam epitaxy with a GaP effusion cell as dopant source. Three growth regions were identified to obtain ZnO films with different conduction types. In the oxygen-extremely-rich region, phosphorus-doped ZnO films show n-type conduction with dominant donor-bound excitons (DX0) in the low-temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectra. In the oxygen-rich region, a growth window was found to generate p-type ZnO films. The PL spectra show evident competitions between DX0 and acceptor-bound excitons (AX0). In the stoichiometric and Zn-rich region, ZnO films are n-type with dominant DX0 emissions. Thus, phosphorus doping is amphoteric, having the tendency to form both donors and acceptors in ZnO.

ZnO-based p-n homojunctions were grown using molecular-beam epitaxy. Sb and Ga were used as dopants to achieve the p-type and n-type ZnO, respectively. The mesa devices were fabricated by employing wet etching and standard photolithography techniques. Al∕Ti metal was deposited by electron-beam evaporation and annealed to form Ohmic contacts. Current-voltage measurements of the device showed good rectifying behavior, from which a turn-on voltage of about 2V was obtained. Very good response to ultraviolet light illumination was observed from photocurrent measurements.

Phosphorus-doped p-type ZnO films were grown on r-plane sapphire substrates using molecular-beam epitaxy with a solid-source GaP effusion cell. X-ray diffraction spectra and reflection high-energy electron diffraction patterns indicate that high-quality single crystalline (112¯0) ZnO films were obtained. Hall and resistivity measurements show that the phosphorus-doped ZnO films have high hole concentrations and low resistivities at room temperature. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements at 8 K reveal a dominant acceptor-bound exciton emission with an energy of 3.317 eV. The acceptor energy level of the phosphorus dopant is estimated to be 0.18 eV above the valence band from PL spectra, which is also consistent with the temperature dependence of PL measurements.

We investigated photoluminescence (PL) from reliable and reproducible Sb-doped p-type ZnO films grown on n-Si (100) by molecular-beam epitaxy. Well-resolved PL spectra were obtained from completely dopant-activated samples with hole concentrations above 1.0×1018cm−3. From free electron to acceptor transitions, acceptor binding energy of 0.14 eV is determined, which is in good agreement with analytical results of the temperature-dependent PL measurements. Another broad peak at 3.050 eV, which shifts to lower energy at higher temperatures, indicates the formation of deep acceptor level bands related to Zn vacancies, which are created by Sb doping.

Reproducible Sb-doped p-type ZnO films were grown on n-Si (100) by electron-cyclotron-resonance-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy. The existence of Sb in ZnO:Sb films was confirmed by low-temperature photoluminescence measurements. An acceptor-bound exciton (A°X) emission was observed at 3.358 eV at 8 K. The acceptor energy level of the Sb dopant is estimated to be 0.2 eV above the valence band. Temperature-dependent Hall measurements were performed on Sb-doped ZnO films. At room temperature, one Sb-doped ZnO sample exhibited a low resistivity of 0.2Ωcm, high hole concentration of 1.7×1018cm−3 and high mobility of 20.0cm2∕Vs. This study suggests that Sb is an excellent dopant for reliable and reproducible p-type ZnO fabrication.