Room-temperature electroluminescence in the mid-infrared (2-3 μm) from bulk chromium-doped ZnSe

Abstract

Electroluminescence associated with impact excitation or ionization of deep Cr(2+) impurity centers in bulk ZnSe is reported. A broad signal of mid-infrared luminescence between 2 and 3 microm is observed once the biased bulk ZnSe device runs into a nonlinear conduction regime. Optical powers in the nanowatt range have been measured at room temperature. The different mechanisms involved in this intracenter infrared light emission are discussed.

Infrared (2–12 μm) solid-state laser sources: a review

“…In order to get Cr:ZnSe lasers even more compact, challenging research is currently oriented toward electrical pumping of a Cr:ZnSe laser. Recently, first observations of the room-temperature mid-IR electroluminescence of Cr 2+ :ZnSe has been demonstrated by two groups [45,46]. Such results paves the way to electrically pumped laser action.…”

Photoluminescence properties of Cr2+:ZnSe films deposited by radio frequency magnetron cosputtering

“…3,4 In particular, in the case of Cr 2+ : ZnSe, pulsed, 5 continuous wave, 6 and mode locked 7 operations have been demonstrated. 11,12 Combined with the recent understanding of charge transfer processes, these allow us to consider as possible in the future the realization of simple electrically pumped active nanocrystalline lasers. 8 Moreover, the most exciting developments in Cr 2+ : ZnSe lasers were, on the one hand, the recent demonstration of a RT laser based on Cr 2+ ion doped ZnSe nanopowders ͑with 200 nm grain size͒ ͑Refs.…”

Luminescence properties of Cr2+:ZnSe: Comparison between a single crystal and a film deposited by RF magnetron co-sputtering

“…In particular, the small crystal field splitting found for transition metal ions in II-VI materials allows for operation in the spectral range of 2-5 mm [5,6]. In the case of Cr 2 + :ZnSe, pulsed [7], continuous wave [8], mode locked [9] and electroluminescence [10,11] operations are yet to be demonstrated at RT in the 2-3 mm region [12]. Research studies of Cr 2 + :ZnSe are not limited to bulk crystals, but also include thin films prepared by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) [13], pulsed laser ablation [14] and radiofrequency (RF) magnetron sputtering [15,16] techniques for the purpose of fabricating compact laser systems.…”