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Zinc germanium diphosphide (ZnGeP2) is a ternary semiconductor best known for its nonlinear optical properties. A primary application is optical parametric oscillators operating in the mid-infrared region. Controlled donor doping provides a method to minimize the acceptor-related absorption bands that limit the output power of these devices. In the present study, a ZnGeP2 crystal is doped with selenium during growth. Selenium substitutes for phosphorus and serves as a deep donor. Significant concentrations of native defects (zinc vacancies, germanium-on-zinc antisites, and phosphorous vacancies) are also present in the crystal. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) is used to establish the atomic-level model for the neutral charge state of the selenium donor. The S = 1/2 signal from the neutral donors is produced at 6 K by illuminating with 633 nm light (electrons excited from doubly ionized Zn vacancies convert Se P + donors to Se P 0 donors). A g matrix, with principal values of 2.088, 2.203, and 1.904, is extracted from the angular dependence of the EPR spectrum. The principal-axis direction associated with the 1.904 principal value is close to a Se–Ge bond. This indicates an asymmetric distribution of unpaired spin density around the selenium ion and thus predicts the deep donor behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cadmium germanium diphosphide (CdGeP2) crystals, with versatile terahertz-generating properties, belong to the chalcopyrite family of nonlinear optical materials. Other widely investigated members of this family are ZnGeP2 and CdSiP2. The room-temperature absorption edge of CdGeP2 is near 1.72 eV (720 nm). Cadmium vacancies, phosphorous vacancies, and germanium-on-cadmium antisites are present in as-grown CdGeP2 crystals. These unintentional intrinsic point defects are best studied below room temperature with electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and optical absorption. Prior to exposure to light, the defects are in charge states that have no unpaired spins. Illuminating a CdGeP2 crystal with 700 or 850 nm light while being held below 120 K produces singly ionized acceptors ( V Cd −) and singly ionized donors ( Ge Cd +), as electrons move from V Cd 2 − vacancies to Ge Cd 2 + antisites. These defects become thermally unstable and return to their doubly ionized charge states in the 150–190 K range. In contrast, neutral phosphorous vacancies ( V P 0) are only produced with near-band-edge light when the crystal is held near or below 18 K. The V P 0 donors are unstable at these lower temperatures and return to the singly ionized V P + charge state when the light is removed. Spin-Hamiltonian parameters for the V Cd − acceptors and V P 0 donors are extracted from the angular dependence of their EPR spectra. Exposure at low-temperature to near-band-edge light also introduces broad optical absorption bands peaking near 756 and 1050 nm. A consistent picture of intrinsic defects in II-IV-P2 chalcopyrites emerges when the present CdGeP2 results are combined with earlier results from ZnGeP2, ZnSiP2, and CdSiP2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Barium gallium selenide (BaGa4Se7) is a recently developed nonlinear optical material with a transmission window extending from 470 nm to 17 μm. A primary application of these crystals is the production of tunable mid-infrared laser beams via optical parametric oscillation. Unintentional point defects, such as selenium vacancies, cation vacancies (barium and/or gallium), and trace amounts of transition-metal ions, are present in BaGa4Se7 crystals and may adversely affect device performance. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and optical absorption are used to identify and characterize these defects. Five distinct EPR spectra, each representing an electron trapped at a selenium vacancy, are observed at low temperature (there are seven crystallographically inequivalent selenium sites in the crystal). One spectrum is stable at room temperature and is present before illumination. The other four are produced at lower temperatures with 532 nm laser light and are thermally unstable at room temperature. Each S = 1/2 singly ionized selenium vacancy has a large, nearly isotropic, hyperfine interaction with 69Ga and 71Ga nuclei at one neighboring Ga site. A significant portion of the unpaired spin resides in a 4s orbital on this adjacent Ga ion and gives principal values of the hyperfine matrices in the 3350–6400 MHz range. Broad photoinduced optical absorption bands in the visible and near-infrared are assigned to the selenium vacancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cadmium silicon diphosphide (CdSiP2) is a nonlinear material often used in optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) to produce tunable laser output in the mid-infrared. Absorption bands associated with donors and acceptors may overlap the pump wavelength and adversely affect the performance of these OPOs. In the present investigation, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) is used to identify two unintentionally present acceptors in large CdSiP2 crystals. These are an intrinsic silicon-on-phosphorus antisite and a copper impurity substituting for cadmium. When exposed to 633 nm laser light at temperatures near or below 80 K, they convert to their neutral paramagnetic charge states ( Si P 0 and Cu Cd 0 ) and can be monitored with EPR. The corresponding donor serving as the electron trap is the silicon-on-cadmium antisite ( Si Cd 2 + before illumination and Si Cd + after illumination). Removing the 633 nm light and warming the crystal above 90 K quickly destroys the EPR signals from both acceptors and the associated donor. Broad optical absorption bands peaking near 0.8 and 1.4 μm are also produced at low temperature by the 633 nm light. These absorption bands are associated with the Si P 0 and Cu Cd 0 acceptors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thick barium hexaferrite [BaO·(Fe2O3)6] films, having the magnetoplumbite structure (i.e., Ba M), were epitaxially grown on c-axis oriented GaN/Al2O3 substrates by pulsed laser deposition followed by liquid phase epitaxy. X-ray diffraction showed (0,0,2n) crystallographic alignment with pole figure analyses confirming epitaxial growth. High resolution transmission electron microscopy images revealed magnetoplumbite unit cells stacked with limited interfacial mixing. Saturation magnetization, 4πMs, was measured for as-grown films to be 4.1±0.3 kG with a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy field of 16±0.3 kOe. Ferromagnetic resonance linewidth, the peak-to-peak power absorption derivative at 53 GHz, was 86 Oe. These properties will prove enabling for the integration of low loss Ba M ferrite microwave passive devices with active semiconductor circuit elements in systems-on-a-wafer architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]