High quality optically active and integrable EuOOH films prepared by pulsed laser deposition

Rare-earth (RE)-Oxygen-Hydrogen compounds are versatile materials whose composition and properties can be significantly varied by changing the relative O and H contents. Among them hydrides and oxyhydrides have been thoroughly investigated due to its photochromic properties. Instead, research of RE-hydroxides and oxyhydroxides (RE-OH and RE-OOH) is scarce although they show promising properties as light emitters. However, their use and integration in solid state devices have been hindered so far because their usual chemical synthesis routes yield materials in bulk or powder configurations. In this work we demonstrate a physical deposition route based on pulsed laser deposition that results in the unprecedented preparation of high-quality Eu oxyhydroxide (EuOOH) thin films. The synthetized EuOOH films show a well-defined monoclinic structure, are optically active and show a robust red emission related to the intra-f transitions of the Eu3+ ions. The excellent quality of these crystalline films has allowed us to obtain relevant properties of the monoclinic EuOOH phase not previously reported such as its refractive index and its Raman spectrum, including the identification of the characteristic phonon modes. These novel EuOOH films have been prepared both on Si and fused silica substrates, and thus are ready for potential integration in solid state optoelectronic components and devices.

High quality optically active and integrable EuOOH films prepared by pulsed laser deposition Articles