Browsing by Author "Vanderhoef, Laura R."
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Item Determining the band alignment of TbAs:GaAs and TbAs:In0.53Ga0.47As(American Institute of Physics, 2015-09-10) Bomberger, Cory C.; Vanderhoef, Laura R.; Rahman, Abdur; Shah, Deesha; Chase, D. Bruce; Taylor, Antoinette J.; Azad, Abul K.; Doty, Matthew F.; Zide, Joshua M. O.; Cory C. Bomberger, Laura R. Vanderhoef, Abdur Rahman, Deesha Shah, D. Bruce Chase, Antoinette J. Taylor, Abul K. Azad, Matthew F. Doty, and Joshua M. O. Zide; Bomberger, Cory C.; Vanderhoef, Laura R.; Chase, D. Bruce; Doty, Matthew F.; Zide, Joshua M. O.We propose and systematically justify a band structure for TbAs nanoparticles in GaAs and In0.53Ga0.47As host matrices. Fluence-dependent optical-pump terahertz-probe measurements suggest the TbAs nanoparticles have a band gap and provide information on the carrier dynamics, which are determined by the band alignment. Spectrophotometry measurements provide the energy of optical transitions in the nanocomposite systems and reveal a large blue shift in the absorption energy when the host matrix is changed from In0.53Ga0.47As to GaAs. Finally, Hall data provides the approximate Fermi level in each system. From this data, we deduce that the TbAs:GaAs system forms a type I (straddling) heterojunction and the TbAs:In0.53Ga0.47As system forms a type II (staggered) heterojunction.Item Understanding charge carrier relaxation processes in terbium arsenide nanoparticles using transient absorption spectroscopy(University of Delaware, 2015) Vanderhoef, Laura R.Erbium arsenide nanoparticles epitaxially grown within III-V semiconductors have been shown to improve the performance of devices for applications ranging from thermoelectrics to THz pulse generation. The small size of rare-earth nanoparticles suggests that interesting electronic properties might emerge as a result of both spatial confinement and surface states. However, ErAs nanoparticles do not exhibit any signs of quantum confinement or an emergent bandgap, and these experimental observations are understood from theory. The incorporation of other rare-earth monopnictide nanoparticles into III-V hosts is a likely path to engineering carrier excitation, relaxation and transport dynamics for optoelectronic device applications. However, the electronic structure of these other rare-earth monopnictide nanoparticles remains poorly understood. The objective of this research is to explore the electronic structure and optical properties of III-V materials containing novel rare-earth monopnictides. We use ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy to investigate the electronic structure of TbAs nanoparticles in III-V hosts. We start with TbAs:GaAs, which was expected to be similar to ErAs:GaAs. We study the dynamics of carrier relaxation into the TbAs states using optical pump terahertz probe transient absorption spectroscopy. By analyzing how the carrier relaxation rates depend on pump fluence and sample temperature, we conclude that the TbAs states are saturable. Saturable traps suggest the existence of a bandgap for TbAs nanoparticles, in sharp contrast with previous results for ErAs. We then apply the same experimental technique to two samples of TbAs nanoparticles in InGaAs with different concentrations of TbAs. We observe similar relaxation dynamics associated with trap saturation, though the ability to resolve these processes is contingent upon a high enough TbAs concentration in the sample. We have also constructed an optical pump optical probe transient absorption spectroscopy system to allow complimentary measurements to be taken on these materials in the near future.