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Notes: In this article, the nonlinear characteristics of magnetostatic forward volume wave (MSFVW)-based guided-wave magnetooptic Bragg cell modulators in bismuth-substituted yttrium iron garnet-gadolinium gallium garnet waveguides using nonuniform bias magnetic field are reported. First, the dispersion characteristics of the MSFVW under nonuniform bias magnetic field are analyzed, and the explicit expression for its bandwidth is determined. The transmission measurements of the MSFVW show that owing to the nonuniform magnetic field, the bandwidth is significantly increased. Next, the results of noncollinear magnetooptic (MO) Bragg diffraction experiments using the MSFVW in the frequency range from 2.0 to 4.0 GHz are presented. Two types of nonlinear process, namely, the four-magnon decay and modulation instabilities, are observed. However, the MO experiments at the carrier frequency of 2.85, 3.10, and 3.25 GHz suggest that the decay instabilities did not play a significant role in the MO interaction because of the larger degree of phase mismatch induced by the satellite waves generated during the nonlinear processes. We find that despite the presence of the decay instabilities, the MO Bragg diffraction characteristics still comply with that predicted by the coupled-mode theory before the nonlinear processes evolve into the modulation instabilities. Once the four-magnon modulation instabilities set in at the threshold powers, the MO Bragg diffraction will incur a drop in diffraction efficiency by as much as 9%. This feature results from perturbation of the satellite waves of smaller wave numbers induced in the modulation instabilities that lead to the MO phase mismatch. A model is established to describe the combined contributions of the initial MSFVW and the excited satellite waves associated with the modulation instabilities to the MO Bragg diffraction characteristics. © 2000 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: Spatially, temporally, and angularly resolved collinear collective Thomson scattering was used to diagnose the excitation and damping of a relativistic-phase-velocity self-modulated laser wakefield. The excitation of the electron plasma wave was observed to be driven by Raman-type instabilities. The damping is believed to originate from both electron beam loading and modulational instability. The collective Thomson scattering of a probe pulse from the ion acoustic waves, resulting from modulational instability, allows us to measure the temporal evolution of the plasma temperature. The latter was found to be consistent with the damping of the electron plasma wave. © 2000 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: Photoreflectance is used to investigate the band gap, built-in electric field, and surface Fermi level of a series of lattice-matched In0.52Al0.48As surface-intrinsic n+ structures having different undoped layer thicknesses. Experimental results indicate that, although the built-in electric field depends on the undoped layer thickness, there is a range of thickness within which the surface Fermi level is weakly pinned. From the dependence of electric field and surface Fermi level on the undoped layer thickness, we can determine that the surface states distribute over two separate regions within the energy band gap. The densities of the surface states are evaluated as well. Moreover, the dependence of the built-in electric field on undoped layer thickness is converted into the dependence of surface state density on the surface Fermi level in order to theoretically and exactly calculate the energy spectrum of the surface state density using a Guassian distribution function. The center and width of the distribution near the conduction band are obtained from the fitting parameters. © 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: We present a novel semiconductor quantum well (QW) structure consisting of alternating (In,Ga)As and Ga(P,As,Sb) layers grown pseudomorphically on a GaAs substrate by all-solid-source molecular beam epitaxy. The band gap of the QW is determined by the thickness and composition of both types of layers and can be varied from 1.1 to 1.55 μm. Calculations show that the observed strong room-temperature photoluminescence in this wavelength range can be explained by a type-II transition in the QW. Structural investigations by reflection high-energy electron diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and secondary ion mass spectroscopy confirm a triple layer structure with laterally modulated composition. Photoluminescence measurements reveal a linewidth of 50 meV at 1.3 μm and a luminescence decay time of 240 ps. Our investigations demonstrate the feasibility of this materials system for vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers and other optoelectronic devices on GaAs. © 2000 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: Tantalum-related thin films containing different amounts of nitrogen are sputter deposited at different argon-to-nitrogen flow rate ratios on (100) silicon substrates. Using x-ray diffractometry, transmission electron microscopy, composition and resistivity analyses, and bending-beam stress measurement technique, this work examines the impact of varying the nitrogen flow rate, particularly on the crystal structure, composition, resistivity, and residual intrinsic stress of the deposited Ta2N thin films. With an adequate amount of controlled, reactive nitrogen in the sputtering gas, thin films of the tantalum nitride of nominal formula Ta2N are predominantly amorphous and can exist over a range of nitrogen concentrations slightly deviated from stoichiometry. The single-layered quasi-amorphous Ta2N (a-Ta2N) thin films yield intrinsic compressive stresses in the range 3–5 GPa. In addition, the use of the 40-nm-thick a-Ta2N thin films with different nitrogen atomic concentrations (33% and 36%) and layering designs as diffusion barriers between silicon and copper are also evaluated. When subjected to high-temperature annealing, the single-layered a-Ta2N barrier layers degrade primarily by an amorphous-to-crystalline transition of the barrier layers. Crystallization of the single-layered stoichiometric a-Ta2N (Ta67N33) diffusion barriers occurs at temperatures as low as 450 °C. Doing so allows copper to preferentially penetrate through the grain boundaries or thermal-induced microcracks of the crystallized barriers and react with silicon, sequentially forming {111}-facetted pyramidal Cu3Si precipitates and TaSi2 Overdoping nitrogen into the amorphous matrix can dramatically increase the crystallization temperature to 600 °C. This temperature increase slows down the inward diffusion of copper and delays the formation of both silicides. The nitrogen overdoped Ta2N (Ta64N36) diffusion barriers can thus be significantly enhanced so as to yield a failure temperature 100 °C greater than that of the Ta67N33 diffusion barriers. Moreover, multilayered films, formed by alternately stacking the Ta67N33 and Ta64N36 layers with an optimized bilayer thickness (λ) of 10 nm, can dramatically reduce the intrinsic compressive stress to only 0.7 GPa and undergo high-temperature annealing without crystallization. Therefore, the Ta67N33/Ta64N36 multilayered films exhibit a much better barrier performance than the highly crystallization-resistant Ta64N36 single-layered films. © 2000 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: Chinese leymus [Leymus chinensis (Trin.) Tzvel.] is an important forage distributed in East Asia. The seed-set rates and the pollen–stigma compatibility in six populations were investigated in 2001. Proportionately seed-set ranged from 0·065 to 0·567 under open pollination and 0·0056 to 0·0426 under self-pollination. The former is significantly higher than the latter in each population. Microscopic observations showed that proportionately only 0·0551 to 0·1167 of self-pollinated pollen grains were compatible but most cross-pollinated pollen grains were compatible. The tubes of most incompatible pollen grains aborted upon entering into the stigmas. Among the six populations, there was a significant correlation between seed-set under open pollination and the compatible pollen rates under cross-pollination. These results suggest that Chinese leymus is a self-incompatible species, and the compatibility of pollen and stigma might be one of the factors influencing seed-set in natural conditions. This information will be useful for future breeding efforts.

Notes: The generation of Frenkel defects (a self-interstitial and a vacancy) in heavily As doped Si is investigated theoretically based on first-principles total energy calculations. We find that it is much easier to generate a self-interstitial and a vacancy close to substitutional As atoms than in pure Si, due to the lower energy cost. The As atom binds strongly with the vacancy, but does not bind with Si self-interstitial and other As atoms. We have considered several different reactions such as Si5→Si4V+I, AsSi4→AsSi3V+I, As2Si3→As2Si2V+I, As3Si2→As3SiV+I, and As4Si→As4V+I. The theoretical results are in good agreement with experimental observations. © 2000 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy, along with electrical and film stress measurements, were used to evaluate the effectiveness of 40-nm-thick amorphous Ta2N and microcrystalline TaN diffusion barriers, both single and multilayered, against Cu penetration. Failure of the single-layered Ta2N diffusion barrier upon annealing is initialized by crystallization/grain growth, mainly helped by frozen-in compressive stress (3–4 GPa) to transform itself into a columnar structure with a comparable grain size to the thickness of the barrier. However, when subjected to annealing, the Ta2N/TaN alternately layered diffusion barrier with an optimum bilayer thickness (10 nm) remains almost stress-free (0–0.7 GPa) and transforms itself into an equiaxed structure with grain sizes of only ≤3 nm. Such quasisuperlattice films can present lengthening and complex grained structures to effectively block Cu diffusion, thus acting as much more effective barriers than Ta2N (and TaN) single-layered films. © 2000 American Institute of Physics.