Ultrafast time-resolved pump-probe (TRPP) apparatus has been applied to study the carrier dynamics of Si-doped InN thin films grown buffer by molecular beam expitaxy with and without a low-temperature growth GaN buffer layer. The peak of the PL has been found to increase from 0.7 to 0.8 eV with the back ground density. The total decay rates as a function of the delay time were obtained by the density-dependent TRPP peak intensity and the time-resolved TRPP signals. The total decay rates were interpreted as the sum of radiative and nonradiative recombination. The Shockley-Read-Hall decay rate derived from the TRPP signal at low photoexccitation density was found to increase with the doping density. At low concentration, the Auger recombination is not effective. The dominant recombination mechanism at room temperature is the Shockely-Read-Hall recombination.

Since its inception a quarter of a century ago, Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) has enabled studying contact potential differences (CPDs) on the nanometre scale. However, current KPFM investigations are limited by the bandwidth of its constituent electronic loops to the millisecond regime. To overcome this limitation, pump-probe-driven Kelvin probe force microscopy (pp-KPFM) is introduced that exploits the non-linear electric interaction between tip and sample. The time resolution surpasses the electronic bandwidth and is limited by the length of the probe pulse. In this work, probe pulse lengths as small as 4.5 ns have been realized. These probe pulses can be synchronized to any kind of pump pulses. The first system investigated with pp-KPFM is an electrically-driven organic field-effect transistor (OFET). Here, charge carrier propagation in the OFET channel upon switching the drain-source voltage is directly observed and compared to simulations based on a transmission line model. Varying the charge carrier density reveals the impeding influence of Schottky barriers on the maximum switching frequency. The second system is an optically-modulated silicon homojunction. Here, the speed of surface photovoltage (SPV) build-up is accessed and compared to timeaveraged results. Due to slow trap states, the time-averaged method is found to lack comprehensiveness. In contrast, pp-KPFM exposes two intensity-dependent recombination times on the same timescale — high-level Shockley-Read-Hall recombination in the bulk and heat-dominated recombination in the surface layer — and a delay of the SPV decay with rising frequency, which is attributed to charge carrier retention at nanocrystals. The third system is a DCV5T-Me:C60 bulk heterojunction. The SPV dynamics is probed and compared to measurements via open-circuit corrected transient charge carrier extraction by linearly increasing voltage. Both methods reveal an exponential onset of the band bending reduction that is attributed to the charge carrier diffusion time in DCV5T-Me, and a double exponential decay, hinting at different recombination paths in the studied organic solar cell. The above-mentioned experiments demonstrate that pp-KPFM surpasses conventional KPFM when it comes to extracting dynamic device parameters such as charge carrier retention and recombination times, and prove that pp-KPFM is a versatile and reliable tool for studying electrodynamics on nanosurfaces.

All-optical time-resolved measurement techniques provide a powerful tool for investigating critical parameters that determine the performance of infrared photodetector and emitter semiconductor materials. Narrow-bandgap InAs/GaSb type-II superlattices (T2SLs) have shown great promise as a next generation source of these materials, due to superior intrinsic properties and versatility. Unfortunately, InAs/GaSb T2SLs are plagued by parasitic Shockley-Read-Hall recombination centers that shorten the carrier lifetime and limit device performance. Ultrafast pump-probe techniques and time-resolved differential transmission measurements are used here to demonstrate that Ga-free InAs/InAsSb T2SLs and InAsSb alloys do not have this same limitation and thus have significantly longer carrier lifetimes. Measurements at 77 K provided minority carrier lifetimes of 9 μs and 3 μs for an unintentionally doped mid-wave infrared (MWIR) InAs/InAsSb T2SL and InAsSb alloy, respectively; a two order of magnitude increase compared to the 90 ns minority carrier lifetime measured in a comparable MWIR InAs/GaSb T2SL. Through temperature-dependent lifetime measurements, the various carrier recombination processes are differentiated and the dominant mechanisms identified for each material. These results demonstrate that these Ga-free materials are viable options over InAs/GaSb T2SLs for potentially improved infrared photodetectors. In addition to carrier lifetimes, the drift and diffusion of excited charge carriers through the superlattice growth layers (i.e. vertical transport) directly affects the performance of photodetectors and emitters. Unfortunately, there is a lack of information pertaining to vertical transport, primarily due to difficulties in making measurements on thin growth layers and the need for non-standard measurement techniques. However, all-optical ultrafast techniques are successfully used here to directly measure vertical diffusion in MWIR InAs/GaSb T2SLs. By optically generating excess carriers near one end of a MWIR T2SL and measuring the transit time to a thin, 2 lower-bandgap superlattice placed at the other end, the time-of-flight of vertically diffusing carriers is determined. Through investigation of both unintentionally doped and p-type superlattices at 77 K, the vertical hole and electron diffusion coefficients are determined to be 0.04±0.03 cm2/s and 4.7±0.5 cm2/s, corresponding to vertical mobilities of 6±5 cm2/Vs and 700±80 cm2/Vs, respectively. These measurements are, to my knowledge, the first direct measurements of vertical transport properties in narrow-bandgap superlattices. Lastly, the widely tunable two-color ultrafast laser system used in this research allowed for the investigation of nonlinear optical properties in narrow-bandgap semiconductors. Time-resolved measurements taken at 77 K of the nondegenerate two-photon absorption spectrum of bulk n-type GaSb have provided new information about the nonresonant change in absorption and two-photon absorption coefficients in this material. Furthermore, as the nondegenerate spectrum was measured over a wide range of optical frequencies, a Kramers-Kronig transformation allowed the dispersion of the nondegenerate nonlinear refractive index to be calculated.

In recent years, spin relaxation, injection, and manipulation in semiconductors have attracted considerable interest because of several potential applications in "spintronic" devices and the necessity to understand and control spin-based phenomena. In light of the growing interest in spin-related phenomena and devices, there is now renewed interest in the science and engineering of narrow gap semiconductors (NGS). NGS based heterostructures are particularly interesting for spintronic applications due to their large spin-orbit coupling, which leads to considerable zero-field spin splitting. NGS are also candidates for electronic applications, such as high-speed and low-power microprocessors; as reported recently by Intel. Furthermore, as switching rates in electronic devices are pushed to even higher frequencies, it is important to understand dynamics in semiconductors such as NGS on femtosecond time-scales. In this thesis, time-resolved studies of magnetic and non-magnetic NGS using ultrafast-laser spectroscopy techniques such as pump-probe spectroscopy and magneto-optical Kerr/Faraday effect, are reported. Our samples include: InSb-based quantum wells with different confinement potentials; InMnSb films, the newest III-V ferromagnetic semiconductors; and InAs films. The samples for these studies have been provided by the groups of Prof. Santos at the University of Oklahoma, Prof. Furdyna at the University of Notre Dame, and Prof. Guido at Virginia Tech. The objectives in this thesis have been to: a) understand charge/spin dynamics in NGS with novel confinement potentials, b) probe the effect of magnetic impurities on the spin/charge dynamics, and c) develop concepts for spin based device applications. Several specific questions and concepts have been addressed including: the effect of large spin-orbit interaction in NGS on the dynamics, how large Rashba spin splitting in these materials affect the spin coherence life time, and carrier/spin dynamics in ferromagnetic semiconductor structures. / Ph. D.

Magnetism is a familiar phenomenon, and is applied in a variety of devices, from simple ones, like compasses, to the more sophisticated magnetic hard disk drives. It is also known that the magnetization of a material can change, for example by heating or by exposure to an external magnetic field. The dynamics of transitions between different magnetizations, however, is largely unknown, particularly in complex materials. To further the understanding of such dynamics, this thesis presents an observational study of the dynamics of laser induced demagnetization of permalloy (Ni0.8Fe0.2). Dynamics were studied with element-specificity, i.e. Fe and Ni were studied simultaneously, but separately, rather than studying the overall material. The study was conducted at the HELIOS laboratory at Uppsala University, which features equipment for the study of magnetization dynamics. Important concepts like high-order harmonic generation (HHG) and the transverse magneto-optic Kerr effect (T-MOKE) are discussed. HHG is the laser induced generation of high energy photons, and T-MOKE relates the intensity of reflected light to the magnetization of the reflecting material. The study revealed a very short demagnetization time, and maximum demagnetization of both elements was achieved within 1 picosecond. An onset delay in the demagnetizations of Fe and Ni of about 25 femtoseconds was also observed. Both phenomena have been previously reported. The results further imply that the magnetizations diverge over a 10 picosecond time interval after the onset of demagnetization, which has not been previously reported. The apparent divergence may be due to an unknown transient setup-related issue. The short demagnetization times, as well as the onset delay could potentially contribute to the development of a more complete theory of magnetization dynamics. / Magnetism är ett bekant fenomen, som utnyttjas i allt från enkla tillämpningar, som kompasser,till mer sofistikerade sådana, som hårddiskar. Det är också känt att magnetiseringen i ett material kan ändras, t.ex. genom upphettning eller genom att det utsätts för ett yttremagnetiskt fält. Dynamiken vid övergångar mellan olika magnetiseringstillstånd är dock ett relativt okänt ämne, i synnerhet när det kommer till komplexa material. För främjandet av en större förståelse inom ämnet, presenteras här en observationell studie av dynamiken för laserinducerad avmagnetisering av permalloy (Ni0.8Fe0.2). Dynamiken undersöktes med grundämnesspecificitet, d.v.s. Fe och Ni undersöktes samtidigt, men var för sig, snarare än att materialet undersöktes som helhet. Undersökningen gjordes vid HELIOS-laboratoriet vid Uppsala Universitet, som tillhandahåller utrustning för undersökning av magnetiseringsdynamik. Viktiga koncept diskuteras, såsom övertonsgenerering och den transversella magnetooptiska Kerr-effekten (T-MOKE). Övertonsgenerering innebär laserinducerad generering av högenergifotoner, och T-MOKE relaterar reflekterad intensitet till magnetiseringen i det reflekterande materialet. Undersökningen påvisade en mycket kort avmagnetiseringstid, och maximal avmagnetisering nåddes inom en pikosekund. En relativ tidsförskjutning mellan avmagnetiseringsförloppen för Fe och Ni om ungefär 25 femtosekunder observerades också. Båda fenomen har rapporterats tidigare. Resultatet visar även en divergens mellan magnetiseringsförloppen under ett tidsspann på 10 pikosekunder efter avmagnetiseringens början, vilket inte har rapporterats förr. Den skenbara divergensen kan bero på ett okänt, tillfälligt problem i uppställningen. Den korta avmagnetiseringstiden och den relativa tidsförskjutningen skulle kunna bidra till utvecklingen av en mer komplett teori för magnetiseringsdynamik.