Pulsed cathodoluminescence of calcite crystals of various origins

We have studied the luminescence of calcites from phlogopite-calcite veins, marbles, leucogranites, apatite-calcite ores, and carbonatites in the spectral range 300–800 nm under excitation with nanosecond electron pulses at an electron beam current density of ∼10 A/cm². All of the calcite varieties have a fast emission component, with a broad spectrum in the near-UV and visible spectral regions, whose decay time is comparable to the excitation pulse duration, and a slow emission component, with a peak-emission wavelength of 610–620 nm and decay time of tens of milliseconds. The spectral composition of the emission depends on the nature of the calcite sample. We analyze the evolution of the spectrum after excitation and discuss the luminescence excitation mechanisms and the nature of the emission centers.     

Growth,characterization and dielectric property studies of gel grown barium succinate single crystals

. Single crystals of barium succinate (BaC4H4O4) were grown in silica gel medium using controlled chemical reaction method. Plate-like single crystals of size up to 3 × 2 × 0·2 mm³ was obtained. Single crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies confirmed that structure of the title compound is tetragonal. Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) pattern of the grown crystal and the Fourier transform infrared (FT–IR) spectrum in the range 400–4000 cm^–1 are recorded. The vibrational bands corresponding to different functional groups are assigned. Thermal stability of the grown crystals is confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Dielectric constant and dielectric loss have been calculated and discussed as a function of frequency at different temperatures.     

Emission spectra of silver-infiltrated opal photonic crystals under excitation through optical fibers

The emission spectra of opal photonic crystals loaded with silver nanoparticles have been measured in a 180° geometry under UV and visible excitation. The spectra of silver-infiltrated opal under excitation through optical fibers are found to differ from the spectra of plain (uninfiltrated) opal: the infiltrated silver shifts the emission maximum to longer wavelengths and changes the shape of the spectrum. We have calculated the dispersion laws for two photonic bands and the corresponding frequency dependences of the refractive index for the photonic crystals studied.     

Optical properties of a carbon-zirconia quantum-dot photonic crystal

We report the optical properties of a new type of photonic crystal: a transparent fused silica matrix containing quantum dots—nanoparticles of another material. In this study, nanoparticles consist of graphite zones several nanometers in size, stabilized by zirconia. The photonic crystal is prepared by high-temperature annealing (1200°C) of synthetic opal infiltrated with zirconia and a small amount of carbon. We demonstrate selective reflection of visible light from the surface of the quantum-dot crystal under broadband illumination. Such crystals are potentially attractive as narrow-band selective filters that would reflect the exciting light in Raman measurements and might be used to convert short-wavelength broadband radiation to quasi-monochromatic light in the visible range.     

Reflectivity spectra of gold- and silver-infiltrated opals

We have studied the optical properties of gold- and silver-infiltrated opal photonic crystals composed of close-packed SiO₂ spheres ∼200 nm in diameter. The reflectivity spectra obtained are used to assess the photonic band gap of the crystals in the visible range. We present the characteristics of the emission induced in the opal photonic crystals by monochromatic and broadband light sources and calculated reflectances of the synthetic opal samples.     

Crystal growth and characterization of CuI single crystals by solvent evaporation technique

Cuprous iodide (CuI) crystals are grown by slow evaporation technique in three different solvents. Large CuI single crystals with dimensions of 7.5 mm × 5 mm × 3 mm are obtained in pure acetonitrile solvent at 40 °C. The as-grown crystals are analyzed by X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, current-voltage characteristic and photoluminescence spectrum. The results show that the CuI crystal has the zinc-blende structure with no secondary phase. The elemental Cu/I ratio is 1.09:1. The melting point of the crystal is 875 K and two phase transitions occur from room temperature to its melting point. The electrical conductivity of CuI platelet crystal is in the range of 1.11-2.38 Ω⁻¹ cm⁻¹. Under ultraviolet excitation, the CuI crystals exhibit three emission bands with peak positions at 426, 529 and 671 nm. The nature of the luminescence is discussed.     

One-dimensional photonic crystals with an amplitude-modulated dielectric constant in the unit cell

Photonic band structures of one-dimensional photonic crystals with an amplitude-modulated dielectric constant in the unit cell were studied. With this structure two bandgaps in the visible and one in the IR region were predicted. Experimental measurements of the two photonic bandgaps in the visible spectrum were made in a photonic crystal recorded in a holographic emulsion. Good agreement between experimental and theoretical results was obtained.     

Luminescent properties of Eu3+-doped α-NaYF4 single crystal under NUV-excitation

This paper reports on successful synthesis of α-NaYF₄ single crystal doped with Eu³⁺ at various concentrations by a modified Bridgman method. The crystal structure is characterized by means of X-ray diffraction. The absorption spectra, excitation spectra and emission spectra were measured to investigate the optical properties of the single crystals. An intense red emission located at 611 nm with long lifetime of 9.03 ms was observed in single crystal under the excitation of 394 nm light. It benefits from the low maximum phonon energy of α-NaYF₄ single crystal matrix (390 cm^?1). The CIE chromaticity coordinate of the α-NaYF₄ single crystal doped Eu³⁺ in 4 mol% concentration was calculated (x = 0.6055, y = 0.388), which was close to the National Television Standard Committee standard values for red phosphor (x = 0.67, y = 0.33). All these spectral properties suggest that that this kind of fluoride crystal with high thermal stability and high efficiency of red emission may be used as potential red phosphors for optical devices.     

Crystal growth, thermal and optical studies of semiorganic nonlinear optical material: l-lysine hydrochloride dihydrate

Single crystals of l-lysine hydrochloride dihydrate (LLHCD), a nonlinear optical material, have been grown by slow cooling technique from its aqueous solution. LLHCD was found to be highly soluble in water. The grown crystals have been subjected to single crystal X-ray diffraction to confirm the structure and to estimate the lattice parameters. The vibrational structure of the molecule is elucidated from FTIR spectra. Thermal analysis revealed the thermal stability of the grown crystals. The optical transmittance spectrum shows that the material possesses good optical transparency in the entire visible region with a UV cut-off wavelength at 228 nm. The mechanical properties of the grown crystal have been studied using Vicker's microhardness test. The laser damage threshold of 52.25 MW/cm² has been measured by irradiating Q-switched Nd:YAG laser (1064 nm).     

Plasmonic Enhancement in BiVO4 Photonic Crystals for Efficient Water Splitting

Photo‐electrochemical water splitting is a very promising and environmentally friendly route for the conversion of solar energy into hydrogen. However, the solar‐to‐H₂ conversion efficiency is still very low due to rapid bulk recombination of charge carriers. Here, a photonic nano‐architecture is developed to improve charge carrier generation and separation by manipulating and confining light absorption in a visible‐light‐active photoanode constructed from BiVO₄ photonic crystal and plasmonic nanostructures. Synergistic effects of photonic crystal stop bands and plasmonic absorption are observed to operate in this photonic nanostructure. Within the scaffold of an inverse opal photonic crystal, the surface plasmon resonance is significantly enhanced by the photonic Bragg resonance. Nanophotonic photoanodes show AM 1.5 photocurrent densities of 3.1 ± 0.1 mA cm^?2 at 1.23 V versus RHE, which is among the highest for oxide‐based photoanodes and over 4 times higher than the unstructured planar photoanode.     

Kerr Nonlinearity in 2D Graphdiyne for Passive Photonic Diodes

Graphdiyne is a new carbon allotrope comprising sp‐ and sp²‐hybridized carbon atoms arranged in a 2D layered structure. In this contribution, 2D graphdiyne is demonstrated to exhibit a strong light–matter interaction with high stability to achieve a broadband Kerr nonlinear optical response, which is useful for nonreciprocal light propagation in passive photonic diodes. Furthermore, advantage of the unique Kerr nonlinearity of 2D graphdiyne is taken and a nonreciprocal light propagation device is proposed based on the novel similarity comparison method. Graphdiyne has demonstrated a large nonlinear refractive index in the order of ≈10^?5 cm² W^?1, comparing favorably to that of graphene. Based on the strong Kerr nonlinearity of 2D graphdiyne, a nonlinear photonic diode that breaks time‐reversal symmetry is demonstrated to realize the unidirectional excitation of Kerr nonlinearity, which can be regarded as a significant demonstration of a graphdiyne‐based prototypical application in nonlinear photonics and might suggest an important step toward versatile graphdiyne‐based advanced passive photonics devices in the future.     

Semi-empirical modelling of the di-interstitial defect in silicon

Previous infrared spectroscopy studies of the defect spectrum of neutron irradiated Czochralski grown silicon (Cz-Si) revealed a band at 533 cm^?1, which disappears from the spectra at ~170 °C and exhibits a similar thermal stability with the Si-P6 Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrum correlated with the di-interstitial defect. The proposed structural model for this defect consists of two self-interstitial atoms located symmetrically around a lattice site Si atom. The calculations reveal that the previously suggested structure of the Si-P6 defect has a vibrational frequency at about 513 cm^?1, which is close to the experimental value of 533 cm^?1. The modeling results indicate that the 533 cm^?1 infrared band originates from the same structure as that of the Si-P6 EPR spectrum.     

Photoluminescence of Ca(Ba)Ga2S4:RE poly- and nanocrystals

The photoluminescence and photoluminescence excitation spectra and luminescence decay kinetics of CaGa₂S₄:Eu²⁺ bulk crystals and powders ranging in particle size from 100 to 600 nm have been studied in the temperature range 77–300 K. The results indicate that the full width at half maximum of the photoluminescence band of the CaGa₂S₄:Eu²⁺ nanopowders is about twice that of the bulk crystals. Analysis of the photoluminescence spectra shows that the energy position of the emission band is almost independent of the particle size, temperature, and excitation intensity in the ranges 77–300 K and 10^?3 to 10⁶ W/cm², respectively. The shape of the photoluminescence band is well represented by a Gaussian. The excited state lifetime of the Eu²⁺ ion is ～1000 ns as evaluated from the exponential portion of the luminescence decay curve.     

Conversion of short-wavelength electromagnetic radiation in SiO2 opal photonic crystals

Reflection spectra of the (111) growth surface of opal photonic crystals differing in silica sphere diameter have been measured under illumination with narrowband ultraviolet and violet light from a laser and light-emitting diodes and with broadband light from a halogen lamp. We have found narrow strong bands differing in spectral position from the light from the short-wavelength excitation sources. The spectral position of these bands corresponds to that of photonic band gaps and is independent of excitation wavelength. The silica sphere diameter has no effect on the shape of the reflection band, and its position always correlates with that of the band gap of the opal. The present results demonstrate that exposure of a photonic crystal to short-wavelength radiation leads to conversion of the radiation to the spectral range of the band gap. The microscopic mechanism of the conversion process may involve three-photon parametric processes and amplification of the broadband photoluminescence due to structural defects in the silica matrix. Our results open up the possibility of creating new types of optically pumped solid gain media based on opal photonic crystals.     

Luminescence studies of Ce:YAG using vacuum ultraviolet synchrotron radiation

Photoluminescence spectrum of Ce:YAG single crystal was studied employing vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) synchrotron radiation. Intrinsic absorption edge at about 52,000 cm⁻¹ was observed in the absorption spectrum. From the VUV excitation spectrum, the energy of the highest d-component of 53,191 cm⁻¹ (188 nm) for the Ce³⁺ ions in YAG was obtained at 300 K. The disappearance of the third 5d level at 37,735 cm⁻¹ (265 nm) in absorption and excitation spectra in our samples may be due to the impurity Fe³⁺ ions absorption.     

Growth,structural, optical,DFT, thermal and dielectric studies of N-Benzyl-3-nitroaniline (B3NA): a promising nonlinear optical crystal

The non-linear optical material N-Benzyl-3-nitroaniline was synthesized and grown through an aqueous solution using a low temperature solution growth technique. This conforming monoclinic crystal structure with the P2₁ space group was established by the characterization study of single crystal X-ray diffraction. A powder X-ray diffraction analysis was performed to confirm crystalline nature. As one of the functioning groups of nitro-aniline revealed using the Fourier transform infrared spectrum and the prominent spectral band seen at 3404 cm^?1 is caused by stretching vibrations of the N–H group. The lower cut-off wavelength of the ultra violet-visible absorption and emission spectrum was found to be about 320 nm as the excitation of fluorescence and the emission of blue and red colors are expected at 459 nm and 688 nm. To determine the difference in energy between HOMO and LUMO by 9.6258, using the B3LYP/6-311G++ (d,p) method. The time-based DFT technique was used to calculate the first-order hyperpolarization (β)?=?1.214?×?10^–30 esu. Thermo gravimetric and differential thermal analysis measurements were used to determine the crystal’s moisturing toughness up to 282.87 °C. The relative dielectric constant changes with frequency. Kurtz Perry’s method confirmed 1.66 times the efficiency of second harmonic generation to this present crystal comparing KDP crystal. This data shows that there is a significant amount of promise that is used in optoelectronic materials.

     

Growth and optical properties of (Yb3−xYx)Al5O12:Ce single crystals

To improve the infrared emission of Yb³⁺ ions doped in the garnet host Y₃Al₅O₁₂ (YAG) single crystal through the energy transfer from Ce³⁺ to Yb³⁺ ions, the 〈1 1 1〉-oriented YAG:Ce³⁺, YAG:Yb³⁺, YAG:(Ce³⁺, Yb³⁺) and Yb₃Al₅O₁₂:Ce³⁺ (YbAG:Ce³⁺) single crystals were grown using the Czochralski Method, respectively. The excitation and emission spectra of these garnet single crystals were characterized. In YAG:Ce³⁺ crystal, the yellow emission of Ce³⁺ ions present, but it was completely extinguished in YAG:(Ce³⁺, Yb³⁺) crystal and YbAG:Ce³⁺ crystal. However, the characteristic absorption bands of Ce³⁺ still existed in the excitation spectrum of Yb³⁺ ions, which showed that the energy absorbed by Ce³⁺ ions can be transferred to Yb³⁺ ions for its infrared emission.     

Near‐Infrared Photodetectors Based on MoTe2/Graphene Heterostructure with High Responsivity and Flexibility

2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have attracted considerable attention due to their impressively high performance in optoelectronic devices. However, efficient infrared (IR) photodetection has been significantly hampered because the absorption wavelength range of most TMDCs lies in the visible spectrum. In this regard, semiconducting 2D MoTe₂ can be an alternative choice owing to its smaller band gap ≈1 eV from bulk to monolayer and high carrier mobility. Here, a MoTe₂/graphene heterostructure photodetector is demonstrated for efficient near‐infrared (NIR) light detection. The devices achieve a high responsivity of ≈970.82 A W^?1 (at 1064 nm) and broadband photodetection (visible‐1064 nm). Because of the effective photogating effect induced by electrons trapped in the localized states of MoTe₂, the devices demonstrate an extremely high photoconductive gain of 4.69 × 10⁸ and detectivity of 1.55 × 10¹¹ cm Hz^1/2 W^?1. Moreover, flexible devices based on the MoTe₂/graphene heterostructure on flexible substrate also retains a good photodetection ability after thousands of times bending test (1.2% tensile strain), with a high responsivity of ≈60 A W^?1 at 1064 nm at V _DS = 1 V, which provides a promising platform for highly efficient, flexible, and low cost broadband NIR photodetectors.     

Hall Effect in Bulk‐Doped Organic Single Crystals

The standard technique to separately and simultaneously determine the carrier concentration per unit volume (N , cm^?3) and the mobility (μ) of doped inorganic single crystals is to measure the Hall effect. However, this technique has not been reported for bulk‐doped organic single crystals. Here, the Hall effect in bulk‐doped single‐crystal organic semiconductors is measured. A key feature of this work is the ultraslow co‐deposition technique, which reaches as low as 10^?9 nm s^?1 and enables us to dope homoepitaxial organic single crystals with acceptors at extremely low concentrations of 1 ppm. Both the hole concentration per unit volume (N , cm^?3) and the Hall mobility (μ_H) of bulk‐doped rubrene single crystals, which have a band‐like nature, are systematically observed. It is found that these rubrene single crystals have (i) a high ionization rate and (ii) scattering effects because of lattice disturbances, which are peculiar to this organic single crystal.     

Anti-stokes luminescence of CsCdBr<Subscript>3</Subscript>:Tm crystals

Transmission and spontaneous photoluminescence excitation spectra of CsCdBr₃:Tm (1 and 2.5 at % Tm) crystals have been studied under different optical pumping conditions. The results demonstrate that the anti-Stokes luminescence intensity in the thulium-doped crystals is higher at the higher doping level. We have determined the resonance wavelengths of IR photons for two-photon excitation of visible luminescence in CsCdBr₃:Tm and identified the corresponding electronic transitions in thulium-related emission centers for Stokes and anti-Stokes luminescence.