Low Carrier Density Regime Research Articles

Sustained robust exciton emission in suspended monolayer WSe2 within the low carrier density regime for quantum emitter applications

The development of semiconductor optoelectronic devices is moving toward low power consumption and miniaturization, especially for high-efficiency quantum emitters. However, most of these quantum sources work at low carrier density regions, where the Shockley–Read–Hall (SRH) recombination may be dominant and seriously reduce the emission efficiency. In order to reduce the effect of carrier trapping and sustain a strong photoluminescence (PL) emission under low power pumping conditions, we investigated the influence of “suspending” a monolayer of tungsten diselenide (WSe2), a novel two-dimensional quantum material. Not only the PL intensity but also the fundamental photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) has exhibited a huge, order-scale enhancement through suspending; even surprisingly, we found the PLQY improvement to be far significant under small pumping powers and observed an exponential increase in tendency toward an even lower carrier density region. With its strong excitonic effect, suspended WSe2 offers a solution to reduce carrier trapping and participate in non-radiative processes. Moreover, in the low-power range, where SRH recombination dominates, suspended WSe2 exhibited a remarkably higher percentage of excitonic radiation compared to contacted WSe2. Herein, we quantitatively demonstrate the significance of the suspended WSe2 monolayer in a low carrier density region, highlighting its potential for developing compact, low-power quantum emitters in the future.

Observation of high carrier mobility in CH3NH3PbBr3 single crystals by AC photo-Hall measurements

Carrier mobility is one of the most fundamental material parameters of semiconductors and requisite for device applications and interpretation of physical phenomena. We determined the electron and hole mobilities of a CH3NH3PbBr3 single crystal in the high-carrier density regime by combining AC Hall measurements under photoexcitation and two-carrier analysis. Both electron and hole mobilities were significantly enhanced by photo-doping and exceeded 300 cm2 V−1 s−1, which are comparable to the electron Hall mobilities of conventional inorganic semiconductors. Our experimental results indicate that charged dislocation scattering dominates the carrier transport at room temperature in the low-carrier density regime.

Spin-orbit-coupled ferroelectric superconductivity

Motivated by recent studies on ferroelectric-like order coexisting with metallicity, we investigate ferroelectric (FE) superconductivity in which a FE-like structural phase transition occurs in the superconducting state. We consider a two-dimensional s-wave superconductor with Rashba-type antisymmetric spin-orbit coupling (ASOC). Assuming linear relationship between polar lattice displacement and strength of the ASOC, we treat the Rashba-type ASOC as a molecular field of FE-like order. It is shown that the FE-like order is induced by the magnetic field when the system is superconducting. Furthermore, we clarify the FE superconductivity in a low carrier density regime, which was recently discovered in doped SrTiO$_3$. It is demonstrated that the FE superconducting state can be stable in this regime in the absence of the magnetic field. Our results open a way to control the electric polarization by superconductivity, that is, superconducting multiferroics.

Spin-polarization dependent carrier recombination dynamics and spin relaxation mechanism in asymmetrically doped (110) n-GaAs quantum wells

Carrier recombination and electron spin relaxation dynamics in asymmetric n-doped (110) GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells are investigated with time-resolved pump-probe spectroscopy. The experiment results reveal that the measured carrier recombination time depends strongly on the polarization of pump pulse. With the same pump photon flux densities, the recombination time of spin-polarized carriers is always longer than that of the spin-balanced carriers except at low pump photon flux densities, this anomaly originates from the polarization-sensitive nonlinear absorption effect. Differing from the traditional views, in the low carrier density regime, the D'yakonov–Perel' (DP) mechanism can be more important than the Bir–Aronov–Pikus (BAP) mechanism, since the DP mechanism takes effect, the spin relaxation time in (110) GaAs QWs is shortened obviously via asymmetric doping.

Gate-tunable strong-weak localization transition in few-layer black phosphorus

Atomically-thin black phosphorus (BP) field-effect transistors show strong-weak localization transition, which is tunable through gate voltages. Hopping transports through charge impurity-induced localized states are observed at low carrier density regime. Variable-range hopping model is applied to simulate scattering behaviors of charge carriers. In the high carrier concentration regime, a negative magnetoresistance indicates weak localization effects. The extracted phase coherence length is power-law temperature-dependent and demonstrates inelastic electron–electron interactions and the 2D transport features in few-layer BP field-effect devices. The competition between localization and phase coherence lengths is investigated and analyzed based on observed gate-tunable strong-weak localization transition in few-layer BP.

Analysis of the interface characteristics of CVD-grown monolayer MoS2 by noise measurements

We investigated the current–voltage and noise characteristics of two-dimensional (2D) monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). A large number of trap states were produced during the CVD process of synthesizing MoS2, resulting in a disordered monolayer MoS2 system. The interface trap density between CVD-grown MoS2 and silicon dioxide was extracted from the McWhorter surface noise model. Notably, generation–recombination noise which is attributed to charge trap states was observed at the low carrier density regime. The relation between the temperature and resistance following the power law of a 2D inverted-random void model supports the idea that disordered CVD-grown monolayer MoS2 can be analyzed using a percolation theory. This study can offer a viewpoint to interpret synthesized low-dimensional materials as highly disordered systems.

Signatures of evanescent transport in ballistic suspended graphene-superconductor junctions.

In Dirac materials, the low energy excitations behave like ultra-relativistic massless particles with linear energy dispersion. A particularly intriguing phenomenon arises with the intrinsic charge transport behavior at the Dirac point where the charge density approaches zero. In graphene, a 2-D Dirac fermion gas system, it was predicted that charge transport near the Dirac point is carried by evanescent modes, resulting in unconventional “pseudo-diffusive” charge transport even in the absence of disorder. In the past decade, experimental observation of this phenomenon remained challenging due to the presence of strong disorder in graphene devices which limits the accessibility of the low carrier density regime close enough to the Dirac point. Here we report transport measurements on ballistic suspended graphene-Niobium Josephson weak links that demonstrate a transition from ballistic to pseudo-diffusive like evanescent transport below a carrier density of ~1010 cm−2. Approaching the Dirac point, the sub-harmonic gap structures due to multiple Andreev reflections display a strong Fermi energy-dependence and become increasingly pronounced, while the normalized excess current through the superconductor-graphene interface decreases sharply. Our observations are in qualitative agreement with the long standing theoretical prediction for the emergence of evanescent transport mediated pseudo-diffusive transport in graphene.

Excitonic condensation in spatially separated one-dimensional systems

We show theoretically that excitons can form from spatially separated one-dimensional ground state populations of electrons and holes, and that the resulting excitons can form a quasicondensate. We describe a mean-field Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory in the low carrier density regime and then focus on the core-shell nanowire giving estimates of the size of the excitonic gap for InAs/GaSb wires and as a function of all the experimentally relevant parameters. We find that optimal conditions for pairing include small overlap of the electron and hole bands, large effective mass of the carriers, and low dielectric constant of the surrounding media. Therefore, one-dimensional systems provide an attractive platform for the experimental detection of excitonic quasicondensation in zero magnetic field.

Charge transport in ion-gated mono-, bi-, and trilayer MoS2 field effect transistors.

Charge transport in MoS2 in the low carrier density regime is dominated by trap states and band edge disorder. The intrinsic transport properties of MoS2 emerge in the high density regime where conduction occurs via extended states. Here, we investigate the transport properties of mechanically exfoliated mono-, bi-, and trilayer MoS2 sheets over a wide range of carrier densities realized by a combination of ion gel top gate and SiO2 back gate, which allows us to achieve high charge carrier (>1013 cm−2) densities. We discuss the gating properties of the devices as a function of layer thickness and demonstrate resistivities as low as 1 kΩ for monolayer and 420 Ω for bilayer devices at 10 K. We show that from the capacitive coupling of the two gates, quantum capacitance can be roughly estimated to be on the order of 1 μF/cm2 for all devices studied. The temperature dependence of the carrier mobility in the high density regime indicates that short-range scatterers limit charge transport at low temperatures.

Quantum longitudinal and Hall transport at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface at low electron densities

We examined the magneto-transport behavior of electrons confined at the conducting LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface in the low sheet carrier density regime. We observed well-resolved Shubnikov-de Haas quantum oscillations in the longitudinal resistance, and plateau-like structures in the Hall conductivity. The Landau indices of the plateaus in the Hall conductivity data show spacing close to 4, in units of the quantum of conductance. These experimental features can be explained by a magnetic breakdown transition, which quantitatively explains the area, structure, and degeneracy of the measured Fermi surface.

Gate-Controlled Nonlinear Conductivity of Dirac Fermion in Graphene Field-Effect Transistors Measured by Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy

We present terahertz spectroscopic measurements of Dirac fermion dynamics from a large-scale graphene that was grown by chemical vapor deposition and on which carrier density was modulated by electrostatic and chemical doping. The measured frequency-dependent optical sheet conductivity of graphene shows electron-density-dependence characteristics, which can be understood by a simple Drude model. In a low carrier density regime, the optical sheet conductivity of graphene is constant regardless of the applied gate voltage, but in a high carrier density regime, it has nonlinear behavior with respect to the applied gate voltage. Chemical doping using viologen was found to be efficient in controlling the equilibrium Fermi level without sacrificing the unique carrier dynamics of graphene.

Direct observation of single-charge-detection capability of nanowire field-effect transistors

A single localized charge can quench the luminescence of a semiconductor nanowire, but relatively little is known about the effect of single charges on the conductance of the nanowire. In one-dimensional nanostructures embedded in a material with a low dielectric permittivity, the Coulomb interaction and excitonic binding energy are much larger than the corresponding values when embedded in a material with the same dielectric permittivity. The stronger Coulomb interaction is also predicted to limit the carrier mobility in nanowires. Here, we experimentally isolate and study the effect of individual localized electrons on carrier transport in InAs nanowire field-effect transistors, and extract the equivalent charge sensitivity. In the low carrier density regime, the electrostatic potential produced by one electron can create an insulating weak link in an otherwise conducting nanowire field-effect transistor, modulating its conductance by as much as 4,200% at 31 K. The equivalent charge sensitivity, 4 × 10(-5) e Hz(-1/2) at 25 K and 6 × 10(-5) e Hz(-1/2) at 198 K, is orders of magnitude better than conventional field-effect transistors and nanoelectromechanical systems, and is just a factor of 20-30 away from the record sensitivity for state-of-the-art single-electron transistors operating below 4 K (ref. 8). This work demonstrates the feasibility of nanowire-based single-electron memories and illustrates a physical process of potential relevance for high performance chemical sensors. The charge-state-detection capability we demonstrate also makes the nanowire field-effect transistor a promising host system for impurities (which may be introduced intentionally or unintentionally) with potentially long spin lifetimes, because such transistors offer more sensitive spin-to-charge conversion readout than schemes based on conventional field-effect transistors.

Ferromagnetic Properties in Diluted Magnetic Semiconductors (Al,Mn)N grown by PEMBE

We present the structural, magnetic, and electrical properties in the (Al,Mn)N films with various Mn concentrations grown by plasma-enhanced molecular beam epitaxy. X-ray diffraction analyses reveal that the (Al,Mn)N films have the wurtzite structure without secondary phases. All (Al,Mn)N films showed the ferromagnetic ordering. Particularly, (<TEX>$Al_{1-x}Mn_{x}$</TEX>)N film with x = 0.028 exhibited the highest magnetic moment per Mn atom at room temperature. Since all the films exhibit the insulating characteristics, the origin of ferromagnetism in (Al,Mn)N might be attributed to either indirect exchange interaction caused by virtual electron excitations from Mn acceptor level to the valence band within the samples or a percolation of bound magnetic polarons arisen from exchange interaction of localized carriers with magnetic impurities in a low carrier density regime.

Changes in excess carrier recombination dynamics caused by aging of GaN‐based blue laser diodes

Electrically degraded GaInN/GaN-based laser ridges were analyzed by optical gain, temperature and power dependent photoluminescence, and time-resolved photoluminescence measurements and compared to nondegraded laser ridges. A decrease of the optical gain and changes in recombination times were observed for the degraded lasers. In the high carrier density regime nonradiative recombination seems to become more efficient in degraded lasers by heat generation, while in the low carrier density regime degraded laser ridges show a higher quantum efficiency than non-degraded laser ridges. (© 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Gain spectra and current-induced change of refractice index in (In/Al)GaN diode lasers

Adapting the Hakki–Paoli method for blue laser diodes we measure gain spectra for (In/Al)GaN on SiC substrate laser diodes in the low carrier density regime. From the measured longitudinal mode spacing we calculate the effective refractive index and can exclude a mode spacing ‘anomaly’. We demonstrate that the substrate has a considerable influence on the modal gain. (© 2003 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Effects of clustering and dimensionality on the magnetic properties of diluted magnetic semiconductors

ABSTRACTThe magnetic properties of films of diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMS) such as (Ga,Mn)As, as well as bulk grown crystals of similar materials, have been found to be extremely sensitive to growth conditions, both in terms of the ferromagnetic transition temperature, and the details of their magnetization curves. We study an impurity band model for carriers in Mn-doped DMS applicable in the low carrier density regime, and discuss the effects of clustering on the magnetic properties of DMS, using both numerical mean field and Monte Carlo simulations. In addition, we study the effects of dimensionality on the transition temperature and other magnetic behaviour, and compare our results with experimental data.

Electron-Phonon Interactions in Polyacene Organic Transistors

We present a simple model for the electron-phonon interactions between the energy subbands in polyacene field-effect transistors and the vibrations of the crystal. We introduce a generalized Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model, arguing that the strongest electron-phonon interactions in these systems originate from the dependence of inter-molecule hopping amplitudes on collective molecular motion. We compute the electron-phonon spectral function $\alpha^2F(\omega)$ as a function of two-dimensional hole density and the coupling strength constant. Our results are in agreement with the sharp onset of superconductivity near half-filling discovered in recent experiments by Sch\"on {\it et al.} [Batlogg] and predict an increase of $T_c$ with pressure. We further speculate on the implications that the observation of the quantum Hall effect in these systems has on the effective band mass in the low carrier density regime.

ChemInform Abstract: Diluted Magnetic Semiconductors in the Low Carrier Density Regime.

AbstractChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 100 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.

Diluted Magnetic Semiconductors in the Low Carrier Density Regime

This paper, based on a presentation at the Spintronics 2001 conference, provides a review of our studies on II-VI and III-V Mn-doped Diluted Magnetic Semiconductors. We use simple models appropriate for the low carrier density (insulating) regime, although we believe that some of the unusual features of the magnetization curves should qualitatively be present at larger dopings (metallic regime) as well. Positional disorder of the magnetic impurities inside the host semiconductor is shown to have observable consequences for the shape of the magnetization curve. Below the critical temperature the magnetization is spatially inhomogeneous, leading to very unusual temperature dependence of the average magnetization as well as specific heat. Disorder is also found to enhance the ferromagnetic transition temperature. Unusual spin and charge transport is implied.

Fabrication of high-quality one- and two-dimensional electron gases in undoped GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures

We have developed a technique for the fabrication of high-mobility electron gases formed in undoped GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures. The use of an insulated gate allows independent control over the carrier density in the Hall bar and ohmic contact regions of the device. This unique design eliminates difficulties in obtaining reliable ohmic contacts, particularly in the low carrier density regime. In the absence of remote ionized impurity scattering, extremely high transport mobilities are obtained at low carrier densities (1×106 cm2 V−1 s−1 at 1×1010 cm−2). This design has been adapted to the formation of undoped one-dimensional electron gases that show clean and reproducible conductance plateau at 1.5 K.