Features of Photoluminescence of Double Acceptors in HgTe/CdHgTe Heterostructures with Quantum Wells in a Terahertz Range

Abstract

The terahertz photoluminescence spectra of HgTe/CdHgTe heterostructure with quantum wells under interband optical excitation with a power of 3 to 300 mW have been studied in the temperature range of 30–100 K. The photoluminescence spectrum includes a band corresponding to quantum energies below the width of the band gap. The position of this band does not change with increasing temperature. This property allows attributing it to the capture of holes by acceptor centers. It has been shown that these acceptor centers are singly ionized mercury vacancies, which are double acceptors. A nonmonotonic dependence of the intensity of a signal of a long-wavelength photoluminescence band on the power of an exciting source has been revealed. A short-wavelength photoluminescence band corresponding to interband transitions appears with an increase in the exciting power. It has been shown that this effect is caused by the saturation of the number of partially ionized mercury vacancies with increasing pump intensity.