The observation of far-infrared stimulated emission from shallow donor transitions in silicon is reported. Lasing with a wavelength of 59 &mgr;m due to the neutral donor intracenter 2p(0)-->1s(E) transition in Si:P pumped by CO2 laser radiation is obtained. Populations of D0 and D- center states and the balance of the radiation absorption and amplification are theoretically analyzed.

Recent experimental and theoretical results of impurity doped germanium and silicon terahertz lasers are reviewed. Three different laser mechanisms exist in p-type germanium. Depending on the operating conditions and the properties of the crystal, laser transitions can occur between light-and heavy-hole subbands, between particular light-hole Landau levels or between impurity states. Electric and magnetic fields are required for laser operation. In n-type silicon lasing originates solely from impurity transitions of group-V donors, which are optically excited. The properties of these lasers depend upon the chemical nature of the impurity centre and the properties of the host material. The principles of operation are discussed in terms of their basic physical concepts. The state-of-the-art performance of these lasers is summarized.

Doping of silicon with magnesium is investigated by a sandwich diffusion technique. Temperature dependence of the diffusion coefficient in the dislocation-free silicon in the range of 1000-1200 8C is determined. It obeys the Arrhenius behavior over the range of 600-1200 8C, when the data obtained earlier for the lower temperatures are taken into consideration. Preliminary results on Mg diffusion in the dislocated crystals are also presented. The dislocation-free Si:Mg samples are investigated with the Hall-effect measurements and the low-temperature Fourier spectroscopy. A decrease in concentration of Mg interstitials (about 15%) has been observed after 31 months of the samples storage at room temperature, when a commercially available FZ silicon was used as a starting material. The effect of the samples degradation is proposed to be due to a formation of Mg-O complexes. When using a special silicon purified from oxygen and carbon with concentrations below or equal to 1.5 Â 10 14 and 5 Â 10 14 cm À3 , respectively, a decrease in the density of interstitial magnesium has not been noticed during this period. The storage of Si:Mg samples prepared from pure silicon gives rise to the formation of an unknown center, whose ionization energy is between the corresponding values for the interstitial Mg 0 centers and (Mg-O) 0 complexes.

The first silicon laser was reported in the year 2000. It is based on impurity transitions of the hydrogen-like phosphorus donor in monocrystalline silicon. Several lasers based on other group-V donors in silicon have been demonstrated since then. These lasers operate at low lattice temperatures under optical pumping by a midinfrared laser and emit light at discrete wavelengths in the range from 50 to 230 mm (between 1.2 and 6.9 THz). Dipole-allowed optical transitions between particular excited states of group-V substitutional donors are utilized for donortype terahertz (THz) silicon lasers. Population inversion is achieved due to specific electron-phonon interactions of the impurity atom. This results in long-living and short-living excited states of the donor centers. Another type of THz laser utilizes stimulated resonant Raman-type scattering of photons by a Raman-active intracenter electronic transition. By varying the pump-laser frequency, the frequency of the Raman intracenter silicon laser can be continuously changed between at least 4.5 and 6.4 THz. The gain of the donor and Ramantype THz silicon lasers is of the order of 0.5 to 10 cm À1 , which is similar to the net gain realized in THz quantum cascade lasers and infrared Raman silicon lasers. In addition, fundamental aspects of the laser process provide new information about the peculiarities of electronic capture by shallow impurity centers in silicon, lifetimes of nonequilibrium carriers in excited impurity states, and electron-phonon interaction.