Effect of Fe-doping on nonlinear optical responses and carrier trapping dynamics in GaN single crystals

We presented a quantitative study on the Fe-doping concentration dependence of optical nonlinearities and ultrafast carrier dynamics in Fe-doped GaN (GaN:Fe) single crystals using picosecond Z-scan and femtosecond pump-probe with phase object techniques under two-photon excitation. In contrast to the two-photon absorption that was found to be independent on the Fe-doping, the nonlinear refraction decreased with the Fe concentration due to the fast carrier trapping effect of Fe³⁺/Fe²⁺ deep acceptors, which simultaneously acted as an efficient non-radiative recombination channels for excess carriers. Remarkably, compared to that of Si-doped GaN bulk crystal, the free-carrier refraction effect in GaN:Fe crystals was found to be enhanced considerably since Fe-doping and the effective carrier lifetime (∼10 ps) could be tuned over three orders of magnitude at high Fe-doping level of 1 × 10¹⁹cm^-3.