Investigation of the radiation emitted by metal–barrier–metal structures

An investigation was made of the visible radiation emitted by planar metal–barrier–metal structures as a result of decay of plasma oscillations. A method was found for increasing the intensity of the output radiation using a barrier in the form of a multilayer insulator consisting of different oxides evaporated consecutively. It was found experimentally that the efficiency of emission by these structures was twice that of structures with a simple barrier. The rise time of an optical response of such metal–barrier–metal structures to a single short voltage pulse was at least 4 nsec. The output radiation intensity increased under the additional action of a microwave field of frequency up to 1.2 GHz. This property could be used for the purpose of fast-response visualization of microwave fields with a sensitivity threshold of ~1 mW/cm2.