Laser-induced optical reflection and absorption of GaP

Abstract

Changes in the optical absorption and reflection coefficients of GaP induced by irradiation with 600 ns laser pulses of the wavelenghts at the direct and indirect band gaps have been measured. It is found that a persistent increase in the absorption coefficient and a permanent decrease in the reflection coefficient, in addition to transient increases in the absorption and reflection coefficients, are induced, by irradiation at the band gap. The persistent component is found to be evolved with a surprisingly long time constant of about 10 ms. This component is ascribed to laser-induced modification of the surface layers or damage formation. The transient component is ascribed to temperature rise on the basis of time-resolved optical absorption measurements. It is found that the persistent changes are induced by irradiation with the indirect band gap photons at a fluence which induces only a little change in the transient reflectivity. The threshold laser fluence to create the surface modification by the indirect band-gap irradiation is found to be only four times that by direct band-gap irradiation. A delayed reflectivity change is found to be induced by irradiation at the indirect band gap and is ascribed to the modification of surface layers by photons at the surface layer, which enhances the absorption coefficient. We interpret these experimental results in terms of non-thermal laser-induced atomic processes.