Molten-alkali etching has been widely used to reveal dislocations in 4H silicon carbide (4H-SiC), which has promoted the identification and statistics of dislocation density in 4H-SiC single crystals. However, the etching mechanism of 4H-SiC is limited misunderstood. In this letter, we reveal the anisotropic etching mechanism of the Si face and C face of 4H-SiC by combining molten-KOH etching, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and first-principles investigations. The activation energies for the molten-KOH etching of the C face and Si face of 4H-SiC are calculated to be 25.09 and 35.75 kcal/mol, respectively. The molten-KOH etching rate of the C face is higher than the Si face. Combining XPS analysis and first-principles calculations, we find that the molten-KOH etching of 4H-SiC is proceeded by the cycling of the oxidation of 4H-SiC by the dissolved oxygen and the removal of oxides by molten KOH. The faster etching rate of the C face is caused by the fact that the oxides on the C face are unstable, and easier to be removed with molten alkali, rather than the C face being easier to be oxidized.

高功率特殊波段激光在钠信标、激光测距、激光雷达、自由空间通信等领域具有重要的应用价值。目前，基于受激拉曼散射（stimulated Raman scattering, SRS）的拉曼激光器及放大器已经被证实为拓展激光波段和功率的有效途径。不同于基于粒子数反转激光器在产生和放大过程中需匹配激光增益介质固有的吸收和发射谱，SRS过程理论上能够在其拉曼增益介质透过光谱的全范围内工作，故只需要相互作用光束的频率差满足拉曼增益介质的固有频移，便可实现光束之间的能量直接转移。因此，拉曼放大技术能够利用常规波段的泵浦光对特殊波段的种子光进行放大，从而实现高功率、大能量、高光束质量的特殊波段激光输出。该方法具备波长选择灵活、结构简单、功率拓展性强等优点，近年来已经在钠信标光源等领域得到了应用。文中综述了高功率自由空间拉曼放大技术的主要原理、特性和研究进展，并对其发展趋势和应用前景进行了展望。

回顾了非线性光学激光合束技术的发展历程，阐述了基于光学相位共轭和基于非线性放大过程的合束思想和基本原理，梳理了重叠耦合、种子注入和布里渊四波混频增强相位锁定激光合束方式的标志性成果，总结了等离子体交叉光束能量转移、金刚石拉曼放大和液体布里渊放大激光合束技术的优势和瓶颈。面向高峰值功率、高平均功率、高重复频率激光输出的实现需求，基于布里渊放大激光合束技术具备系统结构简单、功率负载高且散热效率高的优点，提出了实现单脉冲能量100 J、脉冲宽度10 ns、重复频率10 Hz合束激光输出的可行性方案。

Discrimination of dislocations is critical to the statistics of dislocation densities in 4H silicon carbide (4H-SiC), which are routinely used to evaluate the quality of 4H-SiC single crystals and homoepitaxial layers. In this work, we show that the inclination angles of the etch pits of molten-alkali etched 4H-SiC can be adopted to discriminate threading screw dislocations (TSDs), threading edge dislocations (TEDs) and basal plane dislocations (BPDs) in 4H-SiC. In n-type 4H-SiC, the inclination angles of the etch pits of TSDs, TEDs and BPDs in molten-alkali etched 4H-SiC are in the ranges of 27°?35°, 8°?15° and 2°?4°, respectively. In semi-insulating 4H-SiC, the inclination angles of the etch pits of TSDs and TEDs are in the ranges of 31°?34° and 21°?24°, respectively. The inclination angles of dislocation-related etch pits are independent of the etching duration, which facilitates the discrimination and statistic of dislocations in 4H-SiC. More significantly, the inclination angle of a threading mixed dislocations (TMDs) is found to consist of characteristic angles of both TEDs and TSDs. This enables to distinguish TMDs from TSDs in 4H-SiC.Discrimination of dislocations is critical to the statistics of dislocation densities in 4H silicon carbide (4H-SiC), which are routinely used to evaluate the quality of 4H-SiC single crystals and homoepitaxial layers. In this work, we show that the inclination angles of the etch pits of molten-alkali etched 4H-SiC can be adopted to discriminate threading screw dislocations (TSDs), threading edge dislocations (TEDs) and basal plane dislocations (BPDs) in 4H-SiC. In n-type 4H-SiC, the inclination angles of the etch pits of TSDs, TEDs and BPDs in molten-alkali etched 4H-SiC are in the ranges of 27°?35°, 8°?15° and 2°?4°, respectively. In semi-insulating 4H-SiC, the inclination angles of the etch pits of TSDs and TEDs are in the ranges of 31°?34° and 21°?24°, respectively. The inclination angles of dislocation-related etch pits are independent of the etching duration, which facilitates the discrimination and statistic of dislocations in 4H-SiC. More significantly, the inclination angle of a threading mixed dislocations (TMDs) is found to consist of characteristic angles of both TEDs and TSDs. This enables to distinguish TMDs from TSDs in 4H-SiC.