Session CC - Condensed Matter I.
MIXED session, Friday morning, November 15
Henry Oliver E, Holiday Inn
The incorporation of chromium in wide bandgap semiconductors is becoming a topic of interest in the development of efficient and compact tunable solid state mid-infrared lasers operating at room temperature. In the search for optimized procedures of doping that will raise the chromium concentration to a level of 10^20 ions/cm^3, we have developed a diffusion process in the temperature range of 750 -950 ^0C. However, optimization needs to be made during this process to preserve the optical transparency of the doped samples. In order to minimize optical losses two kinds of dopant sources where investigated, CrSe vapor and sputtered chromium metal. The experimental data obtained for these two cases will be discussed in terms of dopant diffusivity, distribution of defects and crystal homogeneity.(The authors at Fisk would like to acknowledge support provided by NASA under grant # NAGW 2925 and by DOE under Grant # NAG03-94SF20368.)