Spatially-resolved investigation of transport in semiconductors: A photothermal deflection approach

The unique ability of photothermal deflection spectroscopy to probe the local index of refraction of matter is exploited to investigate, in a spatially-resolved manner, thermal and electronic transport in semiconductors. An added advantage of this approach is that it is contactless; hence, it obviates the classical problems associated with electrodes and contacts. The basic premise of the technique is the use of the heat associated with non-radiative processes (e.g., recombination of carriers) to deflect a focussed laser probe beam (sub-gap energy) propagating through the semiconductor. The deflection of the probe beam is caused by a change in the refractive index of the sample which is in turn governed by carrier diffusion and recombination.