The ultrafast coupling dynamics of coherent optical phonons and the photoexcited electron-hole plasma in the indirect gap semiconductor GaP are investigated by experiment and theory. For below-gap excitation and probing by 800-nm light, only the bare longitudinal optical (LO) phonons are observed. For above-gap excitation with 400-nm light, the photoexcitation creates a high density, nonequilibrium e−h plasma, which introduces an additional, faster decaying oscillation due to an LO phonon-plasmon coupled (LOPC) mode. The LOPC mode frequency exhibits very similar behavior for both n-and p-doped GaP, downshifting from the LO to the transverse optical (TO) phonon frequency limits with increasing photoexcited carrier density. We assign the LOPC mode to the LO phonons coupled with the photoexcited multi-component plasma. For the 400-nm excitation, the majority of the photoexcited electrons are scattered from Γ valley into the satellite X valley, while the light and spin-split holes are scattered into the heavy hole band, within 30 fs. The resulting mixed plasma is strongly damped, leading to the LOPC frequency appearing in the reststrahlen gap. Due to the large effective masses of the X electrons and heavy holes, the coupled mode appears most distinctly at carrier densities 5 × 10 18 cm −3 . We perform theoretical calculations of the nuclear motions and the electronic polarizations following an excitation with an ultrashort optical pulse to obtain the transient reflectivity responses of the coupled modes. We find that, while the longitudinal diffusion of photoexcited carriers is insignificant, the lateral inhomogeneity of the photoexcited carriers due to the laser intensity profile should be taken into account to reproduce the major features of the observed coupled mode dynamics.
We demonstrate an all-optical approach to probe electronic band structure at buried interfaces involving polar semiconductors. Femtosecond optical pulses excite coherent phonons in epitaxial GaP films grown on Si(001) substrate. We find that the coherent phonon amplitude critically depends on the film growth conditions, specifically in the presence of antiphase domains, which are independently characterized by transmission electron microscopy. We determine the Fermi levels at the buried interface of GaP/Si from the coherent phonon amplitudes and demonstrate that the internal electric fields are created in the nominally undoped GaP films as well as the Si substrates, possibly due to the carrier trapping at the antiphase boundaries and/or at the interface. V C 2016 AIP Publishing LLC. [http://dx.
Optical second-harmonic generation (SHG) is demonstrated to be a sensitive probe of the buried interface between the lattice-matched semiconductors gallium phosphide and silicon with (001) orientation. Ex situ rotational anisotropy measurements on GaP/Si heterostructures show a strong isotropic component of the second-harmonic response not present for pure Si(001)or GaP(001). The strength of the overlaying anisotropic response directly correlates with the quality of the interface as determined by atomically resolved scanning transmission electron microscopy. Systematic comparison of samples fabricated under different growth conditions in metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy reveals that the anisotropy for different polarization combinations can be used as a selective fingerprint for the occurrence of anti-phase domains and twins. This all-optical technique can be applied as an in situ and non-invasive monitor even during growth.
The ultrafast charge-carrier dynamics at the buried heterointerface of gallium phosphide on silicon(001) are investigated by means of time-resolved optical second-harmonic generation. Photon energy dependent measurements reveal the existence of electronic interface states in the bandgap of both materials. Charge carriers excited via these interface states are efficiently injected within a few hundred femtoseconds from the GaP/Si interface into the Si substrate, resulting in the build-up of an electric field perpendicular to the interface on a picosecond time scale.
An account is given on the influence of acetate ions in direct potentiometric analyses of dialytic solutions using K+, Na+ and Ca2+ selective carrier PVC solid contact sensors. By calibrating the flow-through membrane electrodes with anion-corrected solutions, the deviation of ion concentrations based on the acetate effect can be eliminated. The phenomena observed are attributed primarily to an acetate anion interference.
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