The structural influences of the laser lift-off (LLO) techniques on the created (0001) GaN surface region are characterized by cross-sectional high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and fitted using the model of stress waves caused by a longitudinal impact at the end of a cylindrical bar extending to infinity. The authors study reveals that, in addition to the superficial damage caused by laser absorption, the stress saltation in GaN crystal where the shock waves come into being induces deformation of the lattices and generates a cluster of half loops above the LLO interface. After that, the lattice deformation will be induced every time the partial dissipation of the steady-state shock waves takes place until the shock wave is dissipated to elastic mode.

The admixture of linear and circular photogalvanic effects and (CPGEs) in AlxGa1−xN∕GaN heterostructures has been investigated quantitatively by near-infrared irradiation at room temperature. The spin-based photocurrent that the authors have observed solidly indicates the sizable spin-orbital interaction of the two-dimensional electron gas in the heterostructures. Further analysis shows consistency between studies by optical and magnetic (Shubnikov de-Haas) measurements on the spin-orbital coupling effects among different AlxGa1−xN∕GaN heterostructures, indicating that the CPGE measurement is a good way to investigate the spin splitting and the spin polarization in semiconductors.