Ytterbium-doped InP light-emitting diode at 1.0 μm

Abstract

Light-emitting pn junction diodes have been realized in ytterbium-doped InP. The p-type epitaxial layers, which contained the dopant ytterbium (Yb), were grown by liquid phase epitaxy on (100) oriented n+-type InP substrates. Ohmic contacts were alloyed, and the diodes biased in forward direction. At 77 K, emissions were observed at 1.38 eV (0.90 μm) and 1.24 eV (1.00 μm) due to near band-edge electron hole recombination and transitions between the spin-orbit levels 2F5/2→2F7/2 of Yb3+(4f13), respectively. The dependence of the electroluminescence intensity with applied voltage is presented. The external quantum efficiency was determined to be 8×10−4 at 77 K.