Two-photon confocal microscopy as a tool for nonequilibrium charge-carrier lifetime tomography in semiconductor materials

By the example of ZnSe crystals, the capabilities of two-photon confocal microscopy as a tool for obtaining “planar” maps of nonequilibrium charge-carrier lifetimes in semiconductor materials and for investigating other direct-gap semiconductors and semiconductor heterostructures are considered. It is shown that such maps with a depth step and an in-plane resolution of several microns can be obtained for distances from the surface up to 1 mm. This technique is used to visualize inhomogeneities in the crystals under study and to examine their structure and luminescence characteristics.