Porous silicon as a light source for rare earth-doped CaF2 laser

摘要

A method and apparatus (242) generates intense spectral emissions (68) by associating a porous-Si layer (230) with a rare earth-doped CaF2 film (234) so that the rare earth-doped CaF2 film absorbs optical emissions (222) from the porous-Si layer (230). Circuitry (228, 244, and 238) associated with the apparatus (242 and 226) activate the porous-Si layer (230) to produce the optical emissions (222). The porous-Si layer (230) may be formed electrically, by chemical vapor deposition, or by anodizing crystalline silicon.