Evaluation of elastic properties of Cd(x)Zn(1-x)Te crystals by picosecond laser ultrasonic techniques
Résumé
Cd(x)Zn(1-x)Te is a popular material for the production of radiation detectors and solar cells. Therefore, the investigation of its homogeneity and elastic parameters by various techniques is very important. Non-destructive contactless picosecond laser ultrasonics [1] provides very promising opportunities for the evaluation of the elastic properties of the materials absorbing light. We apply this technique to the study of Cd(x)Zn(1-x)Te crystals in the form of 8 mm-diameter discs of 1 mm thickness using classical pump-probe experimental set-up based on Tsunami femtosecond laser and delay line with moving retro-reflector. Typical signal of this set-up, in the case of normal incidence of probe beam, includes so-called Brillouin oscillations with a frequency <i>f</i><sub>B</sub>=2<i>nv</i>/λ, determined by the index of refraction <i>n</i>(λ) of media under study, the sound velocity <i>v</i> in it and the wavelength of probe light λ. To evaluate the elastic properties of Cd(x)Zn(1-x)Te crystals from <i>f</i><sub>B</sub>, we used the data on the index of refraction from [2]. Our studies have been performed for the parameter 1-x of Zn composition , ranging from 0 to 1. The value of the longitudinal sound velocity in the direction perpendicular to the surface of sample was obtained as a function of 1-x. We have realized a preliminary comparison of obtained sound velocities with their available theoretical evaluation [3], which should be improved after the determination of crystalline orientations of our Cd(x)Zn(1-x)Te samples. This work has been supported by the project of the international exchanges PHC Polonium 44991PL. [1] H. Grahn, H. Maris, J. Tauc, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 25, 2562 (1989). [2] A.E. Merad, H. Aourag, B. Khelifa, C. Mathieu, G. Merad, Superlatt. Microstruct. 29, 241 (2001). [3] N. Korozlu, K. Colakoglu, E. Deligoz, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 21, 175406 (2009).