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The architecture of transparent contacts is of utmost importance for creation of efficient flexible light-emitting devices (LEDs) and other deformable electronic devices. We successfully combined the newly synthesized transparent and durable silicone rubbers and the semiconductor materials with original fabrication methods to design LEDs and demonstrate their significant flexibility. We developed electrodes based on a composite GaP nanowire-phenylethyl-functionalized silicone rubber membrane, improved with single-walled carbon nanotube films for a hybrid poly(ethylene oxide)-metal-halide perovskite (CsPbBr3) flexible green LED. The proposed approach provides a novel platform for fabrication of flexible hybrid optoelectronic devices.

Polysiloxanes and materials based on them (silicone materials) are of great interest in optoelectronics due to their high flexibility, good film-forming ability, and optical transparency. According to the literature, polysiloxanes are suggested to be very promising in the field of optoelectronics and could be employed in the composition of liquid crystal devices, computer memory drives organic light emitting diodes (OLED), and organic photovoltaic devices, including dye synthesized solar cells (DSSC). Polysiloxanes are also a promising material for novel optoectronic devices, such as LEDs based on arrays of III–V nanowires (NWs). In this review, we analyze the currently existing types of silicone materials and their main properties, which are used in optoelectronic device development.

The films of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are a promising material for flexible transparent electrodes, which performance depends not only on the properties of individual nanotubes but also, foremost, on bundling of individual nanotubes. This work investigates the impact of densification on optical and electronic properties of SWCNT bundles and fabricated films. Our ab initio analysis shows that the optimally densified bundles, consisting of a mixture of quasi-metallic and semiconducting SWCNTs, demonstrate quasi-metallic behavior and can be considered as an effective conducting medium. Our density functional theory calculations indicate the band curving and bandgap narrowing with the reduction of the distance between nanotubes inside bundles. Simulation results are consistent with the observed conductivity improvement and shift of the absorption peaks in SWCNT films densified in isopropyl alcohol. Therefore, not only individual nanotubes but also the bundles should be considered as building blocks for high-performance transparent conductive SWCNT-based films.

The development of nanophotonics systems for the manipulation of the luminescent properties of single quantum emitters is essential for quantum communication and computing. Dielectric nanosystems enable various opportunities for light control through inherent electric and magnetic resonances, however their full potential has not yet been discovered. Here, the emission properties of NV centers in nanodiamonds placed in the near-field zone of silicon nanoresonators are investigated. It is demonstrated experimentally that the spontaneous emission rate of single NV centers in 50 nm nanodiamonds can be modified by their coupling to spherical nanoantennas, reducing the mode of the lifetime distribution by approximately 2 times from 16 ns to 9 ns. It is also shown that the collected intensity of photoluminescence emission from the multiple NV centers in 150 nm nanodiamond coupled to a cylindrical nanoantenna is increased by more than 50% compared to the intensity from the same nanodiamond on a bare substrate

Electrically driven plasmonic nanoantennas can be integrated as a local source of the optical signal of advanced photonic schemes for on-chip data processing. The inelastic electron tunneling provides the photon generation or launch of surface plasmon waves. This process can be enhanced by the local density of optical states of nanoantennas. In this paper, we used scanning tunnel microscopy-induced light emission to probe the local optoelectronic properties of single gold nanodiscs. The electromagnetic field distribution in the vicinity of plasmonic structures was investigated with high spatial resolution. The obtained photon maps reveal the nonuniform distribution of electromagnetic near-fields, which is consistent with nanoantenna optical modes. Also, the analysis of derived I(V) curves showed a direct correlation between the nanoantenna optical states and the appearance of features on current-voltage characteristics.

GaP as well as GaAs has face-centered cubic crystal phase at standard conditions. Despite it, GaP and GaAs nanowires frequently grow in a metastable hexagonal crystal phase called wurtzite. In this work, stable growth of GaP nanowire in the metastable phase is explained by accounting the elastic strain in the nucleus of a new layer. Crystal phase switch in heterostructured Ga(As,P) nanowire caused by heterointerface was studied theoretically and experimentally. Length of wurtzite segment after the switch of crystal phase linearly increases with nanowire diameter. Such dependence can not be explained by only kinetically driven effects. We consider such dependence as an evidence of elastic strain stabilization of the metastable phase in nanowires.

The results of experiments aimed at fabricating and studying the properties of photodetector structures based on single-layer graphene produced by chemical vapor deposition are presented. The configuration of a Ta2O5 vertical microcavity with a resonance wavelength of about 850 nm and a lower dielectric SiO2/Ta2O5 distributed Bragg reflector is taken as the base structure. The conditions for the transfer and fabrication of mesas in the graphene layer on the microcavity surface are optimized. The diagnostics by Raman spectroscopy of the structural quality of graphene after fabrication of the mesas in the graphene layer and contact pads are indicative of the single-layer structure of graphene with a low intensity of features in its spectrum, responsible for imperfection of the structure. The photocurrent is measured under local optical pumping.

Strain engineering is a powerful tool that allows tuning of the optical and electronic properties of the nanostructures, opening new pathways for the nanowire (NW)-based practical applications. We ...

Attempts to improve solar cells efficiency touch all its constituents and are directly related to their fabrication protocols. While the most promising material platform for high efficiency photovoltaic devices is still III-V semiconductors, introduction of novel materials like single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), which are characterized by unique combination of conductivity and transparency, might greatly yield the device performance. Here, for the first time, we present the results of the fabrication and characterization of a thin-film GaAs solar cell with a SWCNT top contact. We examine the contact between the SWCNT film and the semiconductor structure by means of the optical and electron beam-induced current techniques. The fabricated device demonstrates better performance, that is, increased power conversion efficiency from 10.6% to 11.5% when compared to the cell with the traditional metal contact grid, stemming from the enhanced photocurrent collection efficiency and low parasitic light absorption in the emitter layer. We envision future prospects to exploit the multifunctionality of the SWCNTs in fabrication of highly efficient photovoltaic devices including flexible solar cells.

A compact optical layout of a pulse shaper for strongly chirped laser pulses of nanosecond time scale exploiting a tilted chirped volume Bragg grating and a programmable spatial light modulator is proposed. The setup has a non-zero frequency dispersion; thus it may be used for stretching or compressing the pulse and controlling its shape simultaneously. The feasibility of spectral shaping with a resolution of 0.16 nm, corresponding to a time resolution of 150 ps, and a contrast ratio of 102 is demonstrated experimentally.

The development of nanophotonics systems for the manipulation of luminescent properties of single quantum emitters is essential for quantum communication and computing. Dielectric nanosystems enable various opportunities for light control through inherent electric and magnetic resonances; however, their full potential has not yet been discovered. Here, emission properties of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in nanodiamonds placed in the near-field zone of silicon nanoresonators are investigated. It is demonstrated experimentally that the spontaneous emission rate of single NV centers in 50 nm nanodiamonds can be modified by their coupling to spherical nanoantennas, reducing the mode of the lifetime distribution by [Formula: see text] times from 16 to 9 ns. It is also shown that the collected intensity of photoluminescence emission from multiple NV centers in a 150 nm nanodiamond coupled to a cylindrical nanoantenna is increased by more than 50% compared to the intensity from the same nanodiamond on a bare substrate.

We propose an original method of suppressing thermally induced beam distortions in composite active elements of disk geometry. The main idea of the method is to use a heatsink of special geometry to provide heat removal from the active element only in the pump area. In this way, the heat flows and temperature gradients in the thick active element, and, as a consequence, thermally induced distortions are reduced. The wavefront distortions, temperature, and gain in the composite element mounted in a profiled heatsink have been simulated numerically and measured in experiment. A 2.5-fold reduction of thermally induced lensing compared to a flat heatsink was demonstrated in the experiment at the same small signal gain.

Semiconductor nanowires exhibit numerous capabilities to advance the development of future optoelectronic devices. Among the III-V material family, gallium phosphide (GaP) is an attractive platform with low optical absorption and high nonlinear susceptibility, making it especially promising for nanophotonic applications. However, investigation of single nanostructures and their waveguiding properties remains challenging owing to typically planar experimental arrangements. Here we study the linear and nonlinear waveguiding optical properties of a single GaP nanowire in a special experimental layout, where an optically trapped structure is aligned along its major axis. We demonstrate efficient second harmonic generation in individual nanowires and unravel phase matching conditions, linking between linear guiding properties of the structure and its nonlinear tensorial susceptibility. The capability to pick up single nanowires, sort them with the aid of optomechanical manipulation and accurately position pre-tested structures opens a new avenue for the generation of optoelectronic origami-type devices.

We present an original approach to realistic modeling of light focusing by microsphere systems to form the photonic jets for nano-patterning of the substrates with high refractive index. In simulations we analyze the photonic jets produced by a single sphere and close-packed array of microspheres on the photoresist layer and Si substrate. We show how the lithographic profiles can be controlled by varying the exposure dose and system geometry in wide ranges of photoresist layer thicknesses and microsphere sizes. The modeling covers the entire lithographic system and accounts for the interference of focused light transmitted through the microlenses and reflected from the Si substrate. We use our approach to optimize the size of the lithographic pattern and confirm the simulation results experimentally. The suggested set of methods is rather universal and may be applied to other microlens and resist materials to minimize lithography lateral resolution.

It is shown for the first time that the vacuum poling of soda-lime silicate glass and the subsequent processing of the glass in a melt containing silver ions results in the formation of silver nanoparticles buried in the subanodic region of the glass at a depth of 800–1700 nm. We associate the formation of nanoparticles with the transfer of electrons from negatively charged non-bridging oxygen atoms to silver ions, their reduction as well as their clustering. The nanoparticles do not form in the ion-depleted area just beneath the glass surface, which indicates the absence of a spatial charge (negatively charged oxygen atoms) in this region of the vacuum-poled glass. In consequence, the neutralization of the glass via switching of non-bridging oxygen bonds to bridging ones, which leads to the release of oxygen, should occur in parallel with the shift of calcium, magnesium, and sodium ions into the depth of the glass.

III–V/Si integration is one of the bottlenecks of modern semiconductor technology. Dilute nitride phosphides (III–P–N) are among the promising materials providing lattice matching with Si. In this work, we study the effect of growth conditions on the chemical composition and properties of GaP1−xNx/GaP/Si planar heterostructures synthesized by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy. A series of samples with a maximum fraction of incorporated nitrogen as high as 5.05% is synthesized. The morphological, structural and optical properties of the heterostructures are studied. The tendency towards 3D growth and microtwinning in dilute nitride layers are demonstrated with the increase of nitrogen content. The most intense room temperature (RT) red photoluminescence (PL) emission is obtained with the sample containing 3.07% N. The PL intensity is found to be dependent on the N growth flux while its content only slightly changes with the flux. A low temperature PL study demonstrates efficient donor–acceptor recombination in the synthesized samples. Despite low structural perfection, the sample with the highest nitrogen content demonstrates PL response at RT centered at 1.76 eV.

Rubber materials are the key components of flexible optoelectronic devices, especially for the light-emitting diodes based on arrays of inorganic nanowires (NWs). This paper reports on polydimethylsiloxane-graft-polystyrene (PDMS-St) as a new flexible substrate of GaP NW array structures. The NWs were encapsulated by the newly introduced G-coating method to substitute the inefficient mainstream spin-coating. To further exploit the flexibility and the stretchability of the NW/PDMS-St structures, the ferrocenyl-containing polymethylhydrosiloxane was synthesized and successfully used as an electrode for the NWs. In order to make an alternative highly efficient transparent electrode, a new application of conductive single-walled carbon nanotubes was demonstrated. The novel materials and methods demonstrated unsurpassed mechanical stability of the fabricated flexible electronic devices.

The integration of direct bandgap III–V materials on Si is one of the main bottlenecks on the way to cheap and highly efficient optoelectronic devices. The goal of this work is to study the formati...

III–V planar semiconductor heterostructures based on GaPN alloy with a nitrogen concentration up to 2.12% were grown on Si(001) by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Dependence of nitrogen incorporation on the growth conditions and its effect on the crystal structure were investigated via analysis of X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy data. Continuous redshift and a substantial increase in intensity of the photoluminescence emission spectra were observed upon increase of nitrogen content. The effect of antiphase disorder in GaP buffer on the GaPN epilayer properties was studied. It was found that antiphase boundaries, protruding from the GaP/Si to the GaPN/GaP heterointerface, change their orientation and self-annihilate in the dilute nitride layer even with a low (0.5%) nitrogen content.

In this paper, we study light emission from a tunnel contact between the Au film on a glass substrate and the Au-coated tungsten probe of the scanning tunneling microscope at ambient conditions. We...

We found that enhanced vapor condensation in nanopores and nanochannels on hydrophilic surfaces affects contrast and spatial resolution of the atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging. It was demonstrated, that at ambient conditions the use of conventional Si probes may provide contrast inversion of the topography image of the hydrophilic samples with nano-sized surface features whereas use of the probes modified with hydrophilic Pt/C nanowires ensures adequate AFM imaging. The phenomenon of the AFM contrast inversion and the spatial resolution improvement effect obtained with the probes modified with the nanowires are discussed. The explanation of the phenomenon considering the shape of liquid meniscus in hydrophilic nanopores and nanochannels is proposed.

Use of inorganic oxides as transport layer material is a promising way to increase the efficiency of perovskite solar cells. Results of the studies of the influence of the gas mix composition in the plasma discharge used during magnetron sputtering on the optical, electrical, and structural parameters of deposited thin nickel oxide films are reported. Addition of oxygen or nitrogen to pure argon atmosphere (up to 30 vol %) was shown to change the growth rate (1.2–2.3 nm/min), resistivity of the samples (8.5–208 Ω cm), material band gap (2.85–3.43 eV), and the spectral dependence of the extinction coefficient, while the structural and morphological parameters of synthesized thin films were not affected. The lowest extinction coefficients were found in films deposited in pure argon atmosphere, which determines the capabilities of their usage in photovoltaic converters based on perovskite compounds.

In this paper we study the solar cell based on GaN nanowires array grown on Si substrate with buffer SiC layer via molecular beam epitaxy. Crystal quality of SiC layer and GaN nanowires was studied by means of Raman scattering technique and low temperature photoluminescence measurements. Spectral and volt-ampere characteristics of the n-GaN/SiC/p-Si heterostructures with different thickness of diffusive buffer SiC-3С layers were studied. It was shown that increase of the buffer layer thickness over 100 nm leads to rise of the open circuit voltage and to increase of the efficiency of solar cell in comparison with n-GaN/p-Si heterostructure without buffer layer. Experimental data shows the presence of the defect states at the heterointerface.

A post-growth technique aimed at spatial modification of facet reflectance of edge-emitting diode lasers has been proposed. It is based on the deposition of an anti-reflection coating and subsequent precise etching with a focused ion beam. The technique allowed suppressing of high-order lateral modes in 10 μm stripe lasers based on ten layers of InAs/InGaAs quantum dots.

Tailorable synthesis of III-V semiconductor heterostructures in nanowires (NWs) enables new approaches with respect to designing photonic and electronic devices at the nanoscale. We present a comprehensive study of highly controllable self-catalyzed growth of gallium phosphide (GaP) NWs on template-free silicon (111) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. We report the approach to form the silicon oxide layer, which reproducibly provides a high yield of vertical GaP NWs and control over the NW surface density without a pre-patterned growth mask. Above that, we present the strategy for controlling both GaP NW length and diameter independently in single- or two-staged self-catalyzed growth. The proposed approach can be extended to other III-V NWs.

Trivalent chromium ions (Cr 3+ ) located in octahedral (O h ) sites in crystals such as Alexandrite (BeAl 2 O 4 ) are attractive because of large emission bandwidth enabling the development of broadly tunable and mode-locked [1] lasers. It is interesting to search for other promising laser host materials for Cr 3+ doping. Gahnite (ZnAl 2 O 4 ) belonging to the spinel family is known for its good thermal and optical properties and it is very suitable for doping with transition-metal ions such as Ni 2+ or Co 2+ [2] . Recently, transparent gahnite ceramics were fabricated [2] . In the present work, we report on the first transparent Cr 3+ -doped gahnite ceramics exhibiting intense and broadband emission in the red spectral range.

Semiconductor nanowires (NW) have received much attention for their unique properties providing exceptional flexibility in device engineering. In particular, gallium phosphide NWs demonstrate effective wave-guiding properties and broadband nonlinear frequency conversion, and find applications in green to amber optical range optoelectronics and photocatalytic devices. They also exhibit one of the broadest transparency range, high values of the nonlinear refractive index and good thermal conductivity that make them perspective for nanophotonics.

Funding Information: The authors J.E., C.D. and A.K. would like to thank Jean Dussaud for his work on the MOVPE setup. V.N. would like to thank Maria Baeva for her assistance with the stretchable LED transparency measurements.J.E., C.D. and A.K. thank French National Labex GaNeX (ANR-11-LABX-0014) for MW synthesis and CL measurements. V.N. thanks the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR project no. 19-32-60040) for PDMS/MW membrane fabrication and optical measurements. I.S.M., V.N., F.M.K. thank the support from the Russian Science Foundation (grant 20-19-00256) for PDMS synthesis and electrical measurements. D.K. and A.G.N. thank Russian Foundation of Basic Research project no. 20-03-00804 for the synthesis of carbon nanotubes. F.E.K. thanks the support from the Russian Science Foundation (grant 19-79-00313) for the LED array encapsulation and membrane transfer. I.S.M., F.M.K., V.N., V.A.M., S.M., A.A.V., A.V.U., and D.A.M. thank the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (FSRM-2020-0005) for the general support. N.A. and M.T. acknowledge the financial support from the ITN Marie Curie project INDEED (grant no. 722176), by the Indo-French Centre for the Promotion of Advanced Research (IFCPAR/CEFIPRA project no. 6008-1) for MW/PDMS membrane processing and characterization. Funding Information: Funding: J.E., C.D. and A.K. thank French National Labex GaNeX (ANR-11-LABX-0014) for MW synthesis and CL measurements. V.N. thanks the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR project no. 19-32-60040) for PDMS/MW membrane fabrication and optical measurements. I.S.M., V.N., F.M.K. thank the support from the Russian Science Foundation (grant 20-19-00256) for PDMS synthesis and electrical measurements. D.K. and A.G.N. thank Russian Foundation of Basic Research project no. 20-03-00804 for the synthesis of carbon nanotubes. F.E.K. thanks the support from the Russian Science Foundation (grant 19-79-00313) for the LED array encapsulation and membrane transfer. I.S.M., F.M.K., V.N., V.A.M., S.M., A.A.V., A.V.U., and D.A.M. thank the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (FSRM-2020-0005) for the general support. N.A. and M.T. acknowledge the financial support from the ITN Marie Curie project INDEED (grant no. 722176), by the Indo-French Centre for the Promotion of Advanced Research (IFCPAR/CEFIPRA project no. 6008-1) for MW/PDMS membrane processing and characterization. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. We propose and demonstrate both flexible and stretchable blue light-emitting diodes based on core/shell InGaN/GaN quantum well microwires embedded in polydimethylsiloxane membranes with strain-insensitive transparent electrodes involving single-walled carbon nanotubes. InGaN/GaN core-shell microwires were grown by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy, encapsulated into a polydimethylsiloxane film, and then released from the growth substrate. The fabricated free-standing membrane of light-emitting diodes with contacts of single-walled carbon nanotube films can stand up to 20% stretching while maintaining efficient operation. Membrane-based LEDs show less than 15% degradation of electroluminescence intensity after 20 cycles of stretching thus opening an avenue for highly deformable inorganic devices.