HOLOGRAPHIC MATERIALS AND DEVICES BY A PE-MOCVD PROCESS

Hologram in photorefractive media holds promise for a variety of future optical information processing applications. Currently, no materials and processing technology simultaneously meet all the requirements for practical holographic device applications. It seems advantageous to selectively optimize the promising materials for particular applications. We propose to synthesize high performance photorefractive films of BaTi03, LiNb03, and GaAs by an innovative plasma-enhanced metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (PE-MOCVD) process, with the emphasis on BaTi03 in Phase I. The three material systems are chosen because they have the highest figures of merit (diffraction efficiency, long storage time, and sensitivity, respectively) for different holographic applications. Effective processing technologies will also be developed to substantially improve the weakness of each materials, e.g. increasing the sensitivity of the ferroelectrics by methods of transition-metal doping and chemical reduction; increasing the diffraction efficiency of semiconductor through the growth of quantum well structures. PE-MOCVD is ideal for holographic device fabrication due to its high growth rate, large-area, and low temperature processing capabilities. Moreover, the PE-MOCVD offers the potential for monolithic or hybrid-processing compatibility with OEIC device technology. Phase I addresses the heteroepitaxial growth of optical quality BaTiO3 films for holographic applications.