Recent Research in Optical Characteristics of Nitride Based Nanoscale Heterostructures for UV Applications

Abstract

Nanoscale heterostructures have a great potential for UV applications in the recent scenario. UV region, particularly ranging from 10 to 400 nm is significant in the field of biomedical research, water and air sterilization, semiconductor processes etc. Here some research articles are reviewed and discussed about the structural and optical characteristics of these heterostructures. Optical characteristics of nitride-based heterostructures are studied on the basis of different parameters like optical gain at room temperature, the delta layer insertion effect on ultraviolet light emission, optical gain at different well widths, varying the Al concentrations etc. To calculate optical gain k·p Hamiltonian theory and multi-band effective mass theory have been employed in several studies. Nitride-based UV heterostructures such as high power density AlGaN based ultraviolet lasers have also been discussed. AlGaN based UV lasers have application in general sterilization, sensing systems and water purification. Optical gain of deep UV laser diodes is also reviewed that have uses in the field of free-space communication, disinfection, medical diagnostic, biochemical agent detection and various other fields.