PHOTOELECTRIC AND PHOTOMAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF THE GAPLESS SEMICONDUCTOR CDXHG1-XTE IN THE INFRARED AND MILLIMETER SPECTRAL REGIONS WHEN AN ENERGY-GAP IS OPENED

The magnetic-field and strain dependences of the photoelectric, photom agnetic, and photothermomagnetic characteristics are determined for th e gapless semiconductor CdxHg1-xTe (x=0.04-0.16), in which an energy g ap is opened by external effects. In excitation by infrared radiation the photosignal is observed to increase sharply with an increase in th e applied magnetic field or uniaxial elastic deformation. For radiatio n in the millimeter spectral range the photoresponse exhibits giant os cillations associated with the variation of the electron density. This phenomenon is confirmed by the field dependence of the photomagnetic Hall effect. It is shown that the photothermomagnetic effect is a diff erential signal relative to the photoconductivity signal. (C) 1997 Ame rican Institute of Physics.