The effect of biaxial strain on optical phonons in high-quality GaN epitaxial layers grown on 6H–SiC substrates by metal organic chemical vapor deposition has been studied. The deformation potential constants for the E2(1), A1(TO), E1(TO), and E2(2) optical phonon modes in hexagonal GaN have been obtained. A method for calculating strain in hexagonal GaN layers from Raman data alone is suggested. A comparative analysis of the strain measured by x-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy shows that these data agree well. It is found that the biaxial stress of 1 GPa results in a shift of the excitonic photoluminescence lines of 20±3 meV.

We report a photoluminescence study of silicon nanoclusters produced by laser ablation. It was found that by varying the preparation parameters it was possible to change the mean cluster size in the range 1–5 nm. Within this size variation, the photoluminescence band shifts in a wide spectral region from near ultraviolet to near infrared. This size-dependent photoluminescence of Si nanoclusters is consistent with a quantum confinement effect. The observed influence of cluster oxidation on the luminescence properties also supports the quantum confinement interpretation. We proposed a discrete size model which supposes that the spectral position of the luminescence band is essentially determined by the volume of clusters with a complete outer atomic layer. In the framework of this model, we were able to deconvolute the observed luminescence bands into a set of fixed Gaussian bands. The model is supported by the observation of a size selective doping of Si nanoclusters whose effect was well explained by Auger recombination. Finally, our model allowed us to obtain a dependence of the optical gap on the cluster size which is in good agreement with existing calculations of Si nanocrystal electronic structure.

We present the results of experiments on synthesis of ZnO nanoclusters by reactive pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The nanoclusters were formed and crystallized in the gas phase and deposited on SiO 2 substrates. The nanostructured films were characterized by conventional photoluminescence (PL). The PL spectra consist of a narrow UV excitonic band and a broad visible band related to defects in the film. The film preparation conditions such as the substrate temperature, ambient gas nature and pressure, were optimized in order to increase the intensity of excitonic emission and prevent the formation of defects. A postgrowth annealing by UV laser radiation improved the optical quality of the deposited films.The photoluminescence intensity was found to be dependent significantly on the laser fluence and on the number of shots per site. The nature of the defects responsible for the observed luminescence in a visible range is discussed.

Low-temperature vibronic spectra of two fulleropyrrolidines (1-methyl-3,4-FP and 1-methyl-2(4-pyridine)-3,4-FP) embedded in crystalline toluene matrix have been studied. Two-component composition of the spectra has been established and chargetransfer-excitation origin of the structureless component has been suggested. Fine-structured Shpol'skii spectra were observed for 1-methyl-3,4-FP, which made possible to perform the vibrational analysis of its vibronic spectra. General similarities of the absorption spectra of fulleropyrrolidines and C 60 molecules along with significant difference in their details have been discussed. A detailed interpretation of the C 60 spectra serves as a basis for analyzing the spectra of the derivatives. Quantum-chemical study is based on the effectivelyunpaired-electron concept for the fullerene molecule. Computations have been performed for the singlet states of the molecules in unrestricted Hartree-Fock approximation implemented in AM1 semiempirical quantum chemical codes of the CLUSTER-Z1 software. The population of the HOMO and LUMO of the molecules under study alongside with the lowering of the molecules symmetry have been proposed to explain the spectral features observed.

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Photoluminescence of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) of shungite, attributed to individual fragments of reduced graphene oxide (rGO), has been studied for the frozen rGO colloidal dispersions in water, carbon tetrachloride, and toluene. Morphological study shows a steady trend of GQDs to form fractals and a drastic change in the colloids fractal structure caused by solvent was reliably established. Spectral study reveals a dual character of emitting centers: individual GQDs are responsible for the spectra position while fractal structure of GQD colloids provides high broadening of the spectra due to structural inhomogeneity of the colloidal dispersions and a peculiar dependence on excitation wavelength. For the first time, photoluminescence spectra of individual GQDs were observed in frozen toluene dispersions which pave the way for a theoretical treatment of GQD photonics.