Giant piezooptics effect in the ZnO-Er3+ crystalline films deposited on the glasses

An appearance of the giant photoelastic effect (up to 17 x 10(-13) m(2)/N) (for the wavelength of about 450 nm) in the ZnO films doped by erbium ions is found. For a description of the observed phenomenon, a complex approach including self-consistent band structure calculations together with the appropriate molecular dynamics simulations of the interfaces was used. The origin of the observed effect is caused by the appearance of substantial charge density redistribution within the crystalline ZnO-Er3+ films deposited on the bare glass substrate as well as due to additional charge density polarization by the Er. A possibility of enhancement of the photoelastic coefficients pi(2222) at lambda = 600 nm was proved for the first time by the simultaneous use of interface charge density redistribution and cationic doping of the films. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.