LARGE, WEAKLY SATURATING THIRD-ORDER NONLINEAR SUSCEPTIBILITIES IN SEMIMETALS AND NARROW-GAP SEMICONDUCTORS

We review recent experimental and theoretical work on optical nonlinearities in semimetals and narrow-gap semiconductors. A strong nonlinear response due to optical modulation of the free carrier susceptibility is seen to be a common feature of these materials, with large third-order nonlinear susceptibilities being reported for Hg 1−x Cd x Te , Hg 1−x Mn x Te , Hg-based superlattices, α- Sn 1−x Ge x, Pb 1−x Sn x Se , and Bi 1−x Sb x. Effects of differences in the various band structures are discussed for nonlinearities due to nonparabolicity, thermal carrier generation, and nonequilibrium carrier generation. Mechanisms leading to either partial or severe saturation are also considered. Optimized nonlinearities for the various mechanisms and materials are critically compared, and promising future directions for the field are suggested.

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Optical Nonlinearities in Narrow-Gap Semiconductors

NATO ASI Series - Optical Properties of Narrow-Gap Low-Dimensional Structures ◽

10.1007/978-1-4613-1879-8_12 ◽

1987 ◽

pp. 149-163 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Alan Miller ◽

Duncan Craig

Keyword(s):

Optical Nonlinearities ◽

Narrow Gap ◽

Narrow Gap Semiconductors

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Novel, free-carrier-induced optical nonlinearities of narrow-gap semiconductors

Semiconductor Science and Technology ◽

10.1088/0268-1242/5/3s/014 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 5 (3S) ◽

pp. S57-S67 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

P A Wolff ◽

S Y Auyang

Keyword(s):

Free Carrier ◽

Optical Nonlinearities ◽

Narrow Gap ◽

Narrow Gap Semiconductors

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Free-Carrier Induced Optical Nonlinearities in Narrow Bandgap Semiconductors

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/proc-161-385 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 161 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

D. Walrod ◽

S. Y. Auyang ◽

P. A. Wolff

Keyword(s):

Relaxation Times ◽

Free Carrier ◽

Optical Nonlinearities ◽

Narrow Gap ◽

Exact Matching ◽

Third Order ◽

Material Parameters ◽

Narrow Bandgap ◽

Bulk Semiconductors ◽

Bandgap Semiconductors

ABSTRACTFree-carrier induced third-order optical nonlinearities can be both large and fast in narrow-gap semiconductors. We have studied a variety of mechanisms in bulk semiconductors and heterostructures using CO2 lasers and found third-order susceptibilities as large as 2×10−3 esu with picosecond relaxation times. These mechanisms saturate at much higher intensities than do slower mechanisms and hence induce huge modulations of the dielectric function. In addition, most of these processes are nonresonant so they do not require the exact matching of material parameters and are relatively insensitive to temperature.

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Third‐order nonlinearities and coherent transient grating effects of narrow‐gap semiconductors in the midinfrared

Journal of Applied Physics ◽

10.1063/1.359964 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 78 (5) ◽

pp. 3371-3375 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

S. Hughes ◽

C. M. Ciesla ◽

B. N. Murdin ◽

C. R. Pidgeon ◽

D. A. Jaroszynski ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Narrow Gap ◽

Transient Grating ◽

Third Order ◽

Narrow Gap Semiconductors

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A REPORT ON THE RECENT CONFERENCE ON "SEMIMETALS AND NARROW GAP SEMICONDUCTORS"

Le Journal de Physique Colloques ◽

10.1051/jphyscol:1968401 ◽

1968 ◽

Vol 29 (C4) ◽

pp. C4-3-C4-8

Author(s):

G. A. SAUNDERS

Keyword(s):

Narrow Gap ◽

Narrow Gap Semiconductors ◽

Recent Conference

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MATHEMATICAL MODELING OF TEMPERATURE EFFECT ON THE FAN CHART OF MAGNETOABSORPTION SPECTRUM IN SEMICONDUCTORS

Alternative Energy and Ecology (ISJAEE) ◽

10.15518/isjaee.2019.01-03.104-115 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 104-115

Author(s):

G. Gulyamov ◽

U. I. Erkaboev ◽

A. G. Gulyamov

Keyword(s):

Mathematical Modeling ◽

Magnetic Field ◽

Temperature Dependence ◽

Density Of States ◽

Landau Levels ◽

Joint Density ◽

Narrow Gap ◽

Narrow Gap Semiconductors ◽

Dispersion Law ◽

The Magnetic Field

The article considers the oscillations of interband magneto-optical absorption in semiconductors with the Kane dispersion law. We have compared the changes in oscillations of the joint density of states with respect to the photon energy for different Landau levels in parabolic and non-parabolic zones. An analytical expression is obtained for the oscillation of the combined density of states in narrow-gap semiconductors. We have calculated the dependence of the maximum photon energy on the magnetic field at different temperatures. A theoretical study of the band structure showed that the magnetoabsorption oscillations decrease with an increase in temperature, and the photon energies nonlinearly depend on a strong magnetic field. The article proposes a simple method for calculating the oscillation of joint density of states in a quantizing magnetic field with the non-quadratic dispersion law. The temperature dependence of the oscillations joint density of states in semiconductors with non-parabolic dispersion law is obtained. Moreover, the article studies the temperature dependence of the band gap in a strong magnetic field with the non-quadratic dispersion law. The method is applied to the research of the magnetic absorption in narrow-gap semiconductors with nonparabolic dispersion law. It is shown that as the temperature increases, Landau levels are washed away due to thermal broadening and density of states turns into a density of states without a magnetic field. Using the mathematical model, the temperature dependence of the density distribution of energy states in strong magnetic fields is considered. It is shown that the continuous spectrum of the density of states, measured at the temperature of liquid nitrogen, at low temperatures turns into discrete Landau levels. Mathematical modeling of processes using experimental values of the continuous spectrum of the density of states makes it possible to calculate discrete Landau levels. We have created the three-dimensional fan chart of magneto optical oscillations of semiconductors with considering for the joint density of energy states. For a nonquadratic dispersion law, the maximum frequency of the absorbed light and the width of the forbidden band are shown to depend nonlinearly on the magnetic field. Modeling the temperature dependence allowed us to determine the Landau levels in semiconductors in a wide temperature spectrum. Using the proposed model, the experimental results obtained for narrow-gap semiconductors are analyzed. The theoretical results are compared with experimental results.

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Highly efficient THz four-wave mixing in doped silicon

Light Science & Applications ◽

10.1038/s41377-021-00509-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Nils Dessmann ◽

Nguyen H. Le ◽

Viktoria Eless ◽

Steven Chick ◽

Kamyar Saeedi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Four Wave Mixing ◽

Wave Mixing ◽

Optical Nonlinearities ◽

Third Order ◽

Picosecond Pulses ◽

Light Pulses ◽

A Value ◽

Doped Silicon ◽

Perturbative Regime ◽

Silicon Doped

AbstractThird-order non-linearities are important because they allow control over light pulses in ubiquitous high-quality centro-symmetric materials like silicon and silica. Degenerate four-wave mixing provides a direct measure of the third-order non-linear sheet susceptibility χ(3)L (where L represents the material thickness) as well as technological possibilities such as optically gated detection and emission of photons. Using picosecond pulses from a free electron laser, we show that silicon doped with P or Bi has a value of χ(3)L in the THz domain that is higher than that reported for any other material in any wavelength band. The immediate implication of our results is the efficient generation of intense coherent THz light via upconversion (also a χ(3) process), and they open the door to exploitation of non-degenerate mixing and optical nonlinearities beyond the perturbative regime.

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