SYMPOSIUM K - Rare Earth Doped Semiconductors III

This symposium provides a forum to survey recent advances in the field of luminescence from rare earth-doped semiconductors. There have been two previous MRS symposia devoted to this area that were held in the USA in 1993 and 1996. The main application of this research has been development of optical amplifiers and sources for telecommunications. Important contributions have been made to electroluminescent devices based on Er-doped Si crystals. In the last few years there has been considerable research activity in doping wide bandgap semiconductors, such as GaN and SiC, with Er. This has lead to a highly reduced thermal quenching of the infrared luminescence. Recently, other rare earth elements, such as Pr, Eu, Tb, and Tm have been used, yielding light emission at visible wavelengths. Electroluminescent devices based on rare earth-doped GaN films have been fabricated resulting in green, red, and blue emission. The goal of this symposium is to highlight the status of light emission at infrared and visible wavelengths from rare earth-doped semiconductors and to assess novel photonic applications that now appear possible. A panel session to discuss current trends and future goals is to be included during the symposium.

Scope & Topics:

• Semiconductor host materials
• Methods for rare earth doping
• Excitation mechanisms
• Optical characterization
• Electroluminescent devices
• Visible and infrared emission
• Rare earth doped microcrystals
• Novel applications

Tentative list of invited speakers:

• C. Abernathy, University of Florida, USA
• U. Hommerich, Hampton University, USA
• L. Kimerling, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
• J. Langer, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland
• A. Polman, FOM AMOLF Institute, The Netherlands
• G. Pomrenke, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, USA
• F. Priolo, University of Catania, Italy

Symposium Organizers: