Strongly Superlinear Light Emission and Large Induced Absorption in Oxidized Porous Silicon Films

Abstract

AbstractThe optical properties of oxidized free-standing porous silicon films excited by a cw laser have been investigated. It is found that samples oxidized at 800–950 °C show a strongly superlinear light emission at an excitation intensity of ∼10 W/cm2. This emission has a peak at 900–1100 nm and shows a blueshift as the oxidation temperature is increased. These samples also show a very large induced absorption, where the transmittance is found to decrease reversibly by ≤99.7 %.The induced absorption increases linearly with increasing pump laser intensity. Both the superlinear emission and the large induced absorption are quenched when the samples are attached to materials with a higher thermal conductivity, suggesting that laser-induced thermal effects are responsible for these phenomena.