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Epitaxial growth of e-Ga2O3 is demonstrated for the first time. The e-Ga2O3 films are grown on GaN (0001), AlN (0001), and β-Ga2O3 ( 2¯01) by halide vapor phase epitaxy at 550 °C using gallium chloride and O2 as precursors. X-ray ω-2θ and pole figure measurements prove that phase-pure e-Ga2O3 (0001) films are epitaxially grown on the three kinds of substrates, although some minor misoriented domains are observed. High temperature X-ray diffraction measurements reveal that the e-Ga2O3 is thermally stable up to approximately 700 °C. The optical bandgap of e-Ga2O3 is determined for the first time to be 4.9 eV.

The first ultraviolet (UV) and visible optical isolators based on CeF3 are demonstrated. CeF3 possesses unique properties as Faraday rotator for the UV-visible wavelength region: a wide transparency range (wavelength of >300 nm) and an outstanding Verdet constant. In contrast, currently used terbium-gallium garnets and magneto-optical glasses possess a low transparency in the visible and a small Verdet constant in the UV, respectively. The optical isolator prototypes consist of a CeF3 rod, a single ring magnet, and a couple of beam splitters. The ring magnets have been designed to guarantee a homogeneous magnetic field; for it, numerical simulations have been carried out. The two prototypes are very compact and operate in the UV at 355 and in the visible at 405 nm, respectively. The performance of these devices indicates the high potential of CeF3 as a new UV-visible Faraday rotator, specially for shorter wavelengths where at present there are no optical isolators available.

The heteroepitaxial growth of ScN films was investigated on various substrates by hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE). Single crystalline mirror-like ScN(100) and ScN(110) layers were successfully deposited on r- and m-plane sapphire substrates, respectively. Homogeneous stoichiometric films (N/Sc ratio 1.01 ± 0.10) up to 40 μm in thickness were deposited. Their mosaicity drastically improved with increasing the film thickness. The band gap was determined by optical methods to be 2.06 eV. Impurity concentrations including H, C, O, Si, and Cl were investigated through energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry and secondary ion mass spectrometry. As a result, it was found that the presence of impurities was efficiently suppressed in comparison with that of HVPE-grown ScN films reported in the past, which was possible thanks to the home-designed corrosion-free HVPE reactor. Room-temperature Hall measurements indicated that the residual free electron concentrations ranged between 1018–1020 cm−3, which was markedly lower than the reported values. The carrier mobility increased monotonically with the decreasing in carrier concentration, achieving the largest value ever reported, 284 cm2 V−1 s−1 at n = 3.7 × 1018 cm−3.

Terbium is the key element for highly efficient green phosphors and visible-near IR Faraday isolators. We have recently shown the potential of LiTbF4 and Tb0.81Ca0.19F2.81 as visible Faraday rotators. In this work, we present a detail spectroscopic analysis of Tb3+ (4f8) in these two compounds with different crystal structures. By means of the Judd-Ofelt theory, the emission branching ratios and lifetimes of the Tb3+ excited states have been estimated. These results are compared with experimental values obtained for the emitting 5D4 level, as well as with the absolute light yield measurements. Tb3+ in LiTbF4 exhibits a high quantum efficiency, and its radiative lifetime is confirmed to be 7 ms. Instead, the ionic conductor Tb0.81Ca0.19F2.81, which presents a high concentration of vacant sites, shows a lower quantum efficiency and a radiative lifetime about three times larger than estimated. Absorption and emission spectra of Tb0.81Ca0.19F2.81 are broad, so that any fine structure of energy levels can be resolved. In contrast, a detailed study of the splitting of Tb3+ multiplets in Stark energy levels is carried out for LiTbF4.

The incorporation of Nd3+ in the ferroelectric fluoride BaMgF4 crystal is investigated for its potential application as self-frequency-converter solid state laser. Low temperature high-resolution optical spectroscopy shows that Nd3+ is located at two well distinguished sites referred as A and B. The whole set of energy levels in the excited F43/2, I411/2, and ground I49/2 states are identified for both Nd3+ sites and their crystallographic location in BaMgF4 lattice is discussed. The radiative lifetime of the F43/2 metastable laser level is obtained to be 1430 and 800 μs for site A and B, respectively, and the luminescence quantum efficiency of the F43/2 metastable state for the dominant A site is 87%. The possibility of annihilating the contribution of the B site in the optical spectrum is demonstrated by means of the incorporation Na+ into the crystal.

Ferroelectric and anisotropic electrical behaviors of barium magnesium fluoride (BaMgF4) single crystal grown under CF4 atmosphere by the Czochralski method are comprehensively studied by polarization hysteresis and impedance spectroscopy measurements, respectively. The coercive field (Ec) varies not only with applied frequency but also with ramp rates, while spontaneous polarization Ps∼6.9 C/cm2 remains the same. Dielectric polarization and ionic conductivity measurements at various temperatures and frequencies reveal quasi-one-dimensional ionic conduction phenomena along the c-axis and non-Debye dielectric relaxation along the axes.

The sidewise domain dynamic and wall strain behavior in the atomic force microscope (AFM) tip electric field has been investigated in ferroelectric BaMgF4 single crystal by piezoresponse force microscopy. Unusual 180° domain wall strain phenomenon and its dynamics in the domain decay process of BaMgF4 crystal were directly visualized by AFM. The dependence of the lateral domain size on the switching voltage pulse magnitude and duration was measured and discussed. It was shown that the defects in the crystal play an important role in such abnormal wall strain behavior, and the sidewise domain kinetics reveals an activation mechanism of the wall motion in the bulk BaMgF4 single crystal.