The free carrier magneto‐microwave effects in p‐type germanium

Abstract

AbstractThe free carrier magneto‐microwave effects, namely, the Kerr effect, the Faraday rotation, and the magneto‐absorption, have been studied in detail in p‐type Ge in Faraday configuration. The experimental analysis applies to guided waves and treats multiple reflections exactly. The theoretical analysis takes account of the complex valence band structure and the contributions from the light and heavy holes, separately. The mixed scattering due to ionized impurities and lattice vibrations has been taken into consideration. The values of the ionized impurity scattering parameter and relaxation time obtained from Kerr effect measurements compare well with the values obtained by Faraday rotation measurements. Magneto‐absorption measurements have been done on the samples used for Faraday rotation measurements and the experimental results are compared with theoretical results using the transport parameters obtained from Faraday rotation measurements. Good agreement has been found between the two. The results of the above three types of measurements indicate the presence of larger impurity scattering and smaller relaxation time for light holes as compared with the heavy holes. The values of the relaxation times which has been estimated at 77 K (by Kerr effect measurements) compare well with the values obtained by earlier workers from cyclotron resonance and magneto‐plasma studies.