Compositional Changes in the Infrared Optical Properties of Cr Doped CdZnTe Crystals

Abstract

AbstractWe are currently investigating the infrared (IR) optical properties of Cr doped ternary cadmium chalcogenides for potential applications in solid-state lasers and passive optical Qswitches. In this paper, we present compositional changes in the IR optical properties of Cr doped Cd1-xZnxTe single crystals with x=0.05, 0.1, and 0.2. Undoped CdZnTe crystals were grown by vertical Bridgman technique. Cr doping of CdZnTe was achieved through either in-situ doping or through a thermal diffusion process. For comparison, Cr: CdTe and Cr: ZnTe crystals were also prepared. The optical properties of Cr2+ ions were strongly dependent on the host composition and spectral blue shifts were observed with increasing Zn content in Cr: CdZnTe. The IR absorption peak of Cr2+ ions shifted from ∼1910 nm for Cr: CdTe to ∼1815 nm for Cr: Cd0.8Zn0.2Te. Less pronounced blue shifts were observed for the IR emission from Cr: CdZnTe crystals. The spectral shifts can be explained by the decrease in bond-length when going from CdTe to CdZnTe leading to an increased crystal-field effect experienced by Cr2+ ions. A slight broadening of the absorption and emission was also observed in ternary Cr: CdZnTe compounds compared to Cr: CdTe, which suggests that Cr2+ ions were incorporated in multiple lattice sites in CdZnTe. Moreover, the Cr2+ emission dynamics revealed a slightly non-exponential decay behavior for Cr: CdZnTe crystals, whereas the decay time of Cr: CdTe was single-exponential.