Evolution of the below-bandgap anisotropic refractive indices and dielectric functions of β-(Al <i>x</i> Ga1 <b>−</b> <i>x</i> )2O3 (0 <b>&amp;lt;</b> x <b>&amp;lt;</b> 0.25) determined by generalized spectroscopic ellipsometry

P Preston Sorensen (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 1 , Lincoln, Nebraska 68588,) A Alyssa Mock (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, Applied Science and Technology, Weber State University 2 , Ogden, Utah 88402,) M Megan Stokey (Department of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering, Milwaukee School of Engineering 3 , Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202,) U Ufuk Kilic (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 1 , Lincoln, Nebraska 68588,) A Akhil Mauze (Materials Department, University of California Santa Barbara 4 , Santa Barbara, California 93106,) Y Yuewei Zhang (Laboratory of Flexible Electronics Technology) J James Speck (Materials Department, University of California Santa Barbara 4 , Santa Barbara, California 93106,) Z Zbigniew Galazka (Leibniz-Institut für Kristallzüchtung (IKZ) 2 , Max-Born-Straße 2, 12489 Berlin,) V Vanya Darakchieva (Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM)) M Mathias Schubert (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 1 , Lincoln, Nebraska 68588,)

Abstract

We determine the composition dependence of the below-bandgap anisotropic refractive indices and dielectric functions of β-(AlxGa1−x)2O3 for x up to 25% Al. We use Mueller matrix generalized spectroscopic ellipsometry and investigate a set of high quality single crystalline bulk (x=0%,5%,10%,15%,20%,25%) and thin film (4.6%, 9.7%, 12%, 15%, 16.3%, 21%) samples grown by the Czochralski method and by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy, respectively. Bulk samples with 0.2% silicon doping are cut from ingots with (100) surface and the unintentionally doped thin films samples are grown pseudomorphically on (010) β-Ga2O3. The combination of ellipsometry data from both sample sets permits to fully determine the optical properties of the transparent alloys. We employ a quasi-orthorhombic approach which ignores the very small shear components induced by the monoclinic crystal structure. We also ignore the possibly small effects due to strain within the pseudomorphically grown epitaxial samples. We report indices and dielectric functions for polarization along lattice vectors a, b, and reciprocal lattice vector c⋆. All indices reduce with increasing incorporation of aluminum while the spectral range of transparency increases due to the increase in bandgap energy with composition. We use our results to predict Bragg reflector multilayer structures on b-plane β-(Al0.20Ga0.80)2O3, for use in polarization sensitive narrow-band optical filters in the short wavelength region.

Article Details

Volume / Issue Vol. 128, Issue 12
Published March 23, 2026
ISSN 0003-6951
Publisher American Institute of Physics

Journal Info

Applied Physics Letters

American Institute of Physics

ISSN: 0003-6951 Physical Sciences

Authors (10)

P

Preston Sorensen

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 1 , Lincoln, Nebraska 68588,

A

Alyssa Mock

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, Applied Science and Technology, Weber State University 2 , Ogden, Utah 88402,

M

Megan Stokey

Department of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering, Milwaukee School of Engineering 3 , Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202,

U

Ufuk Kilic

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 1 , Lincoln, Nebraska 68588,

A

Akhil Mauze

Materials Department, University of California Santa Barbara 4 , Santa Barbara, California 93106,

Y

Yuewei Zhang

Laboratory of Flexible Electronics Technology

J

James Speck

Materials Department, University of California Santa Barbara 4 , Santa Barbara, California 93106,

Z

Zbigniew Galazka

Leibniz-Institut für Kristallzüchtung (IKZ) 2 , Max-Born-Straße 2, 12489 Berlin,

V

Vanya Darakchieva

Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM)

M

Mathias Schubert

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 1 , Lincoln, Nebraska 68588,