Leah Bergman DMR-1202532 Professor of Physics, University of Idaho

1. Leah Bergman DMR-1202532Professor of Physics, University of Idaho Figure 1. The bandgap energy of MgZnOas a function of Mg composition. The shaded area is the phase segregation region where both phases of cubic and hexagonal coexist. The crystal structure and the segregation region were determined via selective resonant Raman scattering with supporting evidence from XRD1. The inset to the figure is an image of one of our flexible samples. Primary Research Interest: Realization of novel alloys with tunable optical properties and light emissions in the blue to the UV part of the spectrum. Two alloy systems are being investigated: ZnS1-xOx , and MgxZn1-xO, with the objective of achieving alloys with known solubility and material properties that enable optical properties by design at energy ranges below and above that of pure ZnO, respectively. These two alloy systems can have bandgaps and light emissions spanning the blue to the deep-UV part of the optical spectrum: ~ 2.5 eV- 6.5 eV. Primary Broader Impact Activity: Disseminating lectures to the general public on topics of materials science in consumer technology. Interests in New Collaborations: Fostering interaction with researchers that grow MgxZn1-xO with high Mg composition via pulsed laser deposition. Our alloys that are grown via a sputtering technique have microcrystalline morphology. Of interest is the exploration of the optical properties of epitaxial alloys. Figure 2. The selective resonant Raman analysis. The laser excitation energy, when in resonance with the bandgap of an embedded structure, results in a Raman signal from that structure. Thus using different laser energies (in our case 3.8 eV and 5.1 eV) enables the detection of the alloy inhomogeneitis and the determination of the phase segregation region 1. 1 Applied Physics Letters 102, 191902 (2013). “Probing Embedded Structural Inhomogeneities in MgZnO Alloys via Selective Resonant Raman Scattering” Dinesh Thapa, Jesse Huso, Hui Che, Michelle Huso, John L. Morrison, Diana Gutierrez, M. Grant Norton, and Leah Bergman