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Abstract

A sensor element adaptable for measurement of a physical parameter formed of a crystalline material and emitting luminescent spectra upon excitation by light spectra and the influence of said physical parameter. A first layer emitting luminescent spectra is formed of a semiconductor material containing dopant providing shallow energy levels and recombination centers with a concentration between 10.sup.15 to 10.sup.18 cm.sup.-3, and sandwiched between second and third layers of semiconductor material having low absorption for light excitation of the first layer, and the respective lattice constants of the second and third layers being substantially coincidental with the lattice constant of the first layer. The sensor element is formed of GaAs for the substrate and AlGaAs for the semiconductor layers, with appropriate variation in the concentration Al, Ga, and As for the various layers. Generally, the energy band gap of the layers sandwiching the luminescent emitting layer are higher than that of the emitting layer. In a modified embodiment, GaAs is used as the luminescence emitting layer with covering semiconductor layers of AlGaAs, with appropriate variation in the concentration of Al, Ga and As. In a further modification an additional semiconductor layer of AlGaAs is sandwiched between the active semiconductor layer and a non-active semiconductor layer to reduce or eliminate a shift in the wavelength emission of the sensor element.

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