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Applied Physics Letters

Intracenter transitions in triply ionized erbium ions diffused into III-V compound semiconductors

Xinwei Zhao, Kazuhiko Hirakawa, Toshiaki Ikoma

Published Feb 20, 1989• 27 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The rare-earth element, erbium (Er), was successfully diffused into GaAs and InP for the first time. Two intense and three weak sharp photoluminescence (PL) lines related with Er were observed at a wavelength of ∼1.55 μm both in GaAs and InP. It was found, for the first time, that the emission energy and the linewidth of the two intense Er-related PL lines do not depend on temperatures up to 220 K. This clearly indicates that these sharp emission lines are due to 4f-intracenter transitions in triply ionized erbium (Er3+) ions, and that the 4f orbitals are well shielded from a crystal field by the outer closed orbitals. Furthermore, it was found that the intensity ratio of the five emission lines from Er3+ is independent of the excitation power density. The results reveal that the Er3+ ion substitutes a cation site both in GaAs and InP, and that the five PL lines correspond to the transitions from the first excited state to the five crystal-field-split ground states of Er3+ ion with a tetrahedral (Td) symmetry.

DOI
10.1063/1.100871

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Spectra of optical absorption and energy levels diagram of Er3+ ions in bulk crystals of aluminum nitride

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Physics of the Solid State•Dec 1, 2017•2 citations
The rare-earth element, erbium (Er), was successfully diffused into GaAs and InP for the first time. Two intense and three weak sharp photoluminescence (PL) lines related with Er were observed at a wavelength of ∼1.55 μm both in GaAs and InP. It was found, for the first time, that the emission energy and the linewidth of the two intense Er-related PL lines do not depend on temperatures up to 220 K. This clearly indicates that these sharp emission lines are due to 4f-intracenter transitions in triply ionized erbium (Er3+) ions, and that the 4f orbitals are well shielded from a crystal field by the outer closed orbitals. Furthermore, it was found that the intensity ratio of the five emission lines from Er3+ is independent of the excitation power density. The results reveal that the Er3+ ion substitutes a cation site both in GaAs and InP, and that the five PL lines correspond to the transitions from the first excited state to the five crystal-field-split ground states of Er3+ ion with a tetrahedral (Td) symmetry.
The characteristics of impact excitation of the 1.54-μm emission due to intrashell transitions of 4f electrons of erbium atoms (4I13/2 →4 I15/2) doped into InP were investigated in comparison with the photoluminescence (PL) emission of the same peak from the same sample. The thermal quenching of this Er-related electroluminescence (EL) emission was found to be very small in contrast to the large thermal quenching of the PL emission. The EL emission intensity at room temperature was half that at 77 K, and the temperature dependence of the emission energy and the spectral width was very small. Due to almost temperature-independent nature of the impact excitation process, the quenching of the EL emission intensity reflected directly that of the fluorescence efficiency of this intrashell transitions of Er 4f electrons. Using this result, the temperature dependence of the PL energy transfer efficiency was also obtained. It was also found that the fine structure of the 1.54-μm emission was different between EL and PL. It was speculated that Er atoms on different lattice sites, which were in different crystal fields, were excited depending on excitation processes.
Rare earth element of erbium implanted into silicon was studied by photoluminescence,and nine spectral lines were observed.The analysis of the symmetry of crystal field shows that the nine spectral lines come from the crystal-field splitting of the transition 4I13/2→4I15/2.We concludethat the symmetry of the two low-energy excited (initial) state levels,in order of increasing energy,are Γ8 and Γ6, from which to the splitting state levels of 4I15/2 nine radiative transitions are allowed.Oxygen codopants can increase greatly the PL intensity of Er3+, but the spectral features are similar,indicating oxygen codopants can enhance the intensity of Td crystal field rather than change the Td symmetry of the crystal field on the Er3+ sites.
Abstract Rare earth element of erbium implanted into silicon was studied by photoluminescence,and nine spectral lines were observed.The analysis of the symmetry of crystal field shows that the nine spectral lines come from the crystal field splitting of the transition 4 I 13/2 → 4 I 15/2 .We conclude that the symmetry of the two low energy excited (initial) state levels,in order of increasing energy,are Γ 8 and Γ 6 , from which to the splitting state levels of 4 I 15/2 nine radiative transitions are allowed.Oxygen codopants can increase greatly the PL intensity of Er 3+ , but the spectral features are similar,indicating oxygen codopants can enhance the intensity of T d crystal field rather than change the T d symmetry of the crystal field on the Er 3+ sites.
We present an effective ab initio method to calculate the crystal field coefficients of an erbium (Er3+) ion experiencing different local site symmetries in several wide-band-gap oxides, and then evaluate crystal field splittings of these Er3+ ions for their ground and excited states. The optical transitions between the ground state (Z) and excited state (Y) manifolds of the environmentally shielded 4f states of these Er3+ ions have wavelengths ~1.5 microns and thus have potential applications to quantum communications and quantum memories. These results are in excellent agreement with recent low-temperature measurements, provided the inadequate calculation of the 4f shell screening is adjusted by reducing the radial extent of the 4f wavefunctions by approximately a factor of 2.
Photoluminescence (PL) spectra of Er3+ in an Er-doped silicon film were recorded at 2 and 77 K over the wavelength range from 1.52 to 1.68 μm, which includes optical transitions between the Er3+ I13/24 and I15/24 manifolds. These spectra were then analyzed to determine the nature of the electrostatic field at the site of the Er ion that governs the ion’s optical behavior. The PL spectra were analyzed three different ways: by considering the Er3+ ions to be occupying sites of Td, C3, or D2d point group symmetry. Transition energies and magnetic dipole transition probabilities were calculated for each case by diagonalizing a Hamiltonian representing the free-ion and crystal-field interactions in a Russell–Saunders basis of states spanning the lowest 15 J multiplets of the 4f11 electronic configuration of Er3+. Crystal-field parameters were varied in each case to find the best agreement with the experiment. Our results showed that the site symmetry of the Er3+ ions most consistent with the data is D2d. For this case, the rms deviation between the experimental and calculated energy levels is 3.3 cm−1 with the calculated magnetic dipole transition probabilities in qualitative agreement with the experiment.
The absorption spectra of the Er3+ ions embedded in the AlN matrix have been investigated. The admixture of erbium was introduced in bulk AlN crystals by diffusion. The absorption lines, which are associated with the intraconfigurational electronic f–f-transitions from the ground 4 I 15/2-state to the levels of ion Er3+ excited states have been observed in the spectral range of 370–700 nm. The transitions to the state levels 4 F 9/2, 2 H 11/2, 4 F 7/2, 4 F 5/2, 2 H 9/2, and 4 G 11/2 have been investigated in detail at the temperature T = 2 K. The number of the observed lines for these transitions coincides with the theoretically possible one for the electronic f–f-transitions in the ions Er3+, which are in the crystal field with the symmetry below cubic. The narrowness of the observed lines and their number convincingly testify the replacement of preferably one regular crystalline position by erbium ions. The implementation of Er3+ in the Al3+ position with the local symmetry C 3v appears the most probable. The energy positions of the levels of excited states for the investigated transitions have been determined. The diagram of the Er3+ ion energy levels in the AlN crystals has been built.