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The characteristics of the excitonic absorption and emission around the fundamental bandgap of wurtzite MgxZn1-xO grown on c-plane sapphire substrates by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy with Mg contents between x = 0 and x = 0.23 are studied using spectroscopic ellipsometry and photoluminescence (PL) measurements. The ellipsometric data were analyzed using a multilayer model yielding the dielectric function (DF). The imaginary part of the DF for the alloys exhibits a pronounced feature which is attributed to exciton-phonon coupling (EPC) similar to the previously reported results for ZnO. Thus, in order to determine reliable transition energies, the spectral dependence is analyzed by a model which includes free excitonic lines, the exciton continuum, and the enhanced absorption due to EPC. A line shape analysis of the temperature-dependent PL spectra yielded in particular the emission-related free excitonic transition energies, which are compared to the results from the DF line-shape analysis. The PL linewidth is discussed within the framework of an alloy disorder model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terbium titanate (Tb2Ti2O7) is a spin-ice material with remarkable magneto-optical properties. It has a high Verdet constant and is a promising substrate crystal for the epitaxy of quantum materials with the pyrochlore structure. Large single crystals with adequate quality of Tb2Ti2O7 or any pyrochlore are not available so far. Here we report the growth of high-quality bulk crystals using the Czochralski method to pull crystals from the melt. Prior work using the automated Czochralski method has suffered from growth instabilities like diameter fluctuation, foot formation and subsequent spiraling shortly after the seeding stage. In this study, the volumes of the crystals were strongly increased to several cubic centimeters by means of manual growth control, leading to crystal diameters of up to 40 mm and crystal lengths of up to 10 mm. Rocking curve measurements revealed full width at half maximum values between 28 and 40′′ for 222 reflections. The specific heat capacity cp was measured between room temperature and 1573 K by dynamic differential scanning calorimetry and shows the typical slow parabolic rise. In contrast, the thermal conductivity κ(T) shows a minimum near 700 K and increases at higher temperature T. Optical spectroscopy was performed at room temperature from the ultraviolet to the near infrared region, and additionally in the near infrared region up to 1623 K. The optical transmission properties and the crystal color are interpreted to be influenced by partial oxidation of Tb3+ to Tb4+. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terbium titanate (Tb2Ti2O7) is a spin-ice material with remarkable magneto-optical properties. It has a high Verdet constant and is a promising substrate crystal for the epitaxy of quantum materials with the pyrochlore structure. Large single crystals with adequate quality of Tb2Ti2O7 or any pyrochlore are not available so far. Here we report the growth of high-quality bulk crystals using the Czochralski method to pull crystals from the melt. Prior work using the automated Czochralski method has suffered from growth instabilities like diameter fluctuation, foot formation and subsequent spiraling shortly after the seeding stage. In this study, the volumes of the crystals were strongly increased to several cubic centimeters by means of manual growth control, leading to crystal diameters of up to 40 mm and crystal lengths of up to 10 mm. Rocking curve measurements revealed full width at half maximum values between 28 and 40′′ for 222 reflections. The specific heat capacity cp was measured between room temperature and 1573 K by dynamic differential scanning calorimetry and shows the typical slow parabolic rise. In contrast, the thermal conductivity κ(T) shows a minimum near 700 K and increases at higher temperature T. Optical spectroscopy was performed at room temperature from the ultraviolet to the near infrared region, and additionally in the near infrared region up to 1623 K. The optical transmission properties and the crystal color are interpreted to be influenced by partial oxidation of Tb3+ to Tb4+. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Density-functional-theory calculations are combined with many-body perturbation theory in order to elucidate the geometry, electronic, and optical properties of the uiz-GaN(lIOO) surface, i.e., the so-called m-plane. The optical absorption and reflection anisotropy related to electronic transitions between surface states are identified by comparison with measured data covering transition energies from 2.4 up to 5.4 eV. Our results show a surface relaxation mechanism consistent with the electron counting rule that causes a moderate buckling of the GaN surface dimers and gives rise to two distinct surface states: The doubly occupied N dangling bonds form a surface band that is resonant with the GaN valence-band edge at the center of the Brillouin zone, whereas the empty Ga dangling bonds occur within the GaN band gap closely following the dispersion of the conduction-band edge. These two states contribute strongly to the formation of surface excitons that redshift the optical absorption with respect to the bulk optical response. The surface optical absorption i.e., the excitonic onset below the bulk band gap followed by a broad absorption band at higher energies related to the dispersion of the surface band structure, is calculated in agreement with the experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]