Modular High-Intensity Monochromatic In Situ Illumination Set-Up for Investigating ESR Photoactive Centers in Semiconductors

A versatile, modular in situ high-intensity monochromatic illumination set-up installed on a standard Q-band ESR spectrometer equipped with a cryostat and probe head for measurements at cryogenic temperatures, which can be easily assembled from commercially available optical components is presented. Using as monochromatic light sources pig-tailed laser diodes (LDs) or fiber-coupled light-emitting diodes (LEDs), a high efficiency of the light transfer (more than 95%) through an optical guide inserted in the sample holder is achieved in the sample area of the microwave cavity. With various LEDs and LDs, one can perform ESR in situ illumination experiments from UV to far-IR, in both cw and pulse mode. Its operation is illustrated with an experiment revealing the presence of certain ESR silent defects in oxygen-doped floating-zone ultrapure Si samples irradiated at room temperature with high-energy–high-fluence electron beams and pulse annealed up to 300 °C. New information is obtained by comparing the ESR spectra recorded at T = 120 K, without and with 1.06 µm across-the-gap in situ illumination.