Multiplasmon replicas of the emission lines of bound excitons in ZnSe crystals

Abstract

This paper reports on the results of investigations into the cathodoluminescence spectra of ZnSe crystals grown from a vapor phase and annealed in a bismuth melt [ZnSe(Bi) crystals], as well as in a bismuth melt containing aluminum [ZnSe(Bi,Al) crystals], at a temperature of 1200 K for 120 h. The longitudinal optical (LO) phonon replicas of the emission lines of free excitons are dominant in the cathodoluminescence spectra of the samples subjected to annealing in the bismuth melt with subsequent quenching. The emission spectra of all the samples studied, including the initial crystals, contain series of I1s,d-nLO lines of bound excitons. It is revealed that plasmon replicas are characteristic not only of the I1s-nLO lines. A weak exciton-plasmon interaction manifests itself in the form of single-plasmon Stokes satellites of the I1d-nLO spectral lines. A theory describing the multiphoton optical transitions of bound excitons with the participation of mixed plasmonphonon vibrational modes is proposed. This theory makes it possible to calculate the shape function of an emission spectrum without recourse to model concepts. The results of the theoretical calculations are in agreement with the experimental data.