Search

We demonstrate the excitation of surface phonon polaritons (SPhPs) in the mid-infrared (mid-IR) Reststrahlen band (10.288 μm-12.563 μm) on patterned surfaces with silicon carbide (SiC) substrate and gold (Au) gratings. The very large negative permittivity of Au limits its applications in the mid-IR range, and to couple incident light to SPhPs modes, their momentum mismatch can be compensated by patterning Au grating onto the surface of SiC substrate. Samples were fabricated and characterized experimentally by Fourier transform infrared reflection (FTIR) spectroscopy. The optical properties were also simulated by the rigorous coupled wave analysis (RCWA) method. Reflection dips are observed for light polarized vertical to the grating lines (TM-polarized), which are attributed to the coupling of electromagnetic (EM) waves into the SPhP modes. In addition, we present small-volume index sensing with analyte specificity based on mid-IR SPhPs in the fabricated configuration.

In this work, ZnO thin films were prepared by sol–gel method and the dependence of structural and optical properties of these films on sol concentrations was deeply investigated. Unlike the previous studies, the ZnO thin films deposited in this study have approximately equal thickness, which excludes the influence of film thickness on the physical properties. The results show that low sol concentration is favorable for obtaining high c-axis oriented ZnO thin films with good crystalline quality. When the sol concentration is above 0.7 mol/L, the degree of c-axis orientation of ZnO thin films decreases and the optical quality is also degraded. Photoluminescence spectra indicate that the defect-related blue emission is increased with the enhancement of sol concentration. The mechanism of the blue emission is analyzed. The reason why high sol concentration is unfavorable for formation of high c-axis oriented ZnO thin films and obtaining high optical quality is also discussed.

In this work, ZnO thin films with different thickness were prepared by sol–gel method on glass substrates and the structural and optical properties of these films were studied by X-ray diffractometer, atomic force microscope, UV–visible spectrophotometer, ellipsometer and fluorophotometer, respectively. The structural analyses show that all the samples have a wurtzite structure and are preferentially oriented along the c-axis perpendicular to the substrate surface. The growth process of highly c-axis oriented ZnO thin films derived from sol–gel method is a self-template process. With the increase of film thickness, the structural disorder decreases and the crystalline quality of the films is gradually improved. A transition of crystal growth mode from vertical growth to lateral growth is observed and the transition point is found between 270 and 360 nm thickness. The optical analyses show that with the increase of film thickness, both the refractive index and ultraviolet emission intensity are improved. However, the transmittance in the visible range is hardly influenced by the film thickness, and the averages are all above 80%.

In this work, ZnO thin films were prepared by sol–gel method and the effect of aging time of ZnO sol on the structural and optical properties of the films was studied. The structural characteristics of the samples were analyzed by an atomic force microscope and an X-ray diffractometer. The optical properties were studied by a UV–vis spectrophotometer and a fluorophotometer. The results show that the ZnO thin film prepared by the as-synthesized ZnO sol had relatively poor crystalline quality, low optical transmittance in the visible range and relatively weak ultraviolet emission performance. After the as-synthesized ZnO sol was aged for 24 h, the degree of the preferred crystal orientation along the c-axis of the ZnO thin film prepared by this aged sol was improved. At the same time, this film had a very smooth surface with uniform grains and both its visible range transmittance and ultraviolet emission intensity were obviously increased. These results suggest that appropriate aging of ZnO sol is very important for the improvement of structural and optical quality of ZnO thin films derived from sol–gel method.

In this work, a nanocone ZnO thin film was prepared by electron beam evaporation on a Si (1 0 0) substrate. The structural properties of the film were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy and laser Raman scattering, respectively. The aging effect of the nanocone ZnO thin film was studied by photoluminescence spectra. The structural analyses show that the prepared ZnO thin film has a hexagonal wurtzite structure and is preferentially oriented along the c-axis perpendicular to the substrate surface. The photoluminescence spectra show that with the increase of aging time, the green emission of the nanocone ZnO thin film gradually decreases while the ultraviolet emission somewhat increases. The reason for this phenomenon is likely that the green-emission-related oxygen vacancies in the film are gradually filled up. The Raman scattering analyses also suggest that the intensity of the Raman peak related to oxygen vacancies in the nanocone ZnO thin film declines after the film is aged in air for a year. Therefore, the authors think the green emission is mainly connected with oxygen vacancy defects.

In this work, TiO2 buffer layers were first deposited on Si substrates by electron beam evaporation, and then ZnO thin films were deposited on TiO2 buffer layers by electron beam evaporation and a sol–gel method, respectively. The structural features and surface morphologies of these films were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and a scanning probe microscope (SPM), respectively. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra were measured by a fluorophotometer. The analyses of the structures and surface morphologies showed that all the ZnO thin films were preferentially oriented along the c-axis perpendicular to the substrate surface; TiO2 buffer layers increased the intensity of (0 0 2) diffraction peaks, made the grains denser and the surfaces of the films smoother. The photoluminescence spectra showed that TiO2 buffer layers enhanced ultraviolet emissions and reduced visible emissions of the ZnO thin films to a large degree. All the results suggested that the use of TiO2 buffer layers effectively improved the quality of ZnO thin films.