Structural And Optical Characterisation Of (001) Hgte-Hg1-Xcdxte Superlattices Grown By Molecular Beam Epitaxy

A number of (001) HgTe-CdTe superlattices grown by molecular beam epitaxy have been studied via structural and optical characterisation techniques. Tranmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction were used to determine the layer thicknesses and indicated the growths were of high quality. Room temperature transmission measurements were performed and from them absorption spectra produced which revealed the first two optical transistions, E1-H1 and E1-L1. The absorption spectra showed good correlation to theoretical calculations based on a four band k(.)p model. Strong room temperature infrared photoluminesence associated with the E1-H1 transistion was also observed in these superlattices.