Nanomaterials (Jul 2022)

Band Structure Near the Dirac Point in HgTe Quantum Wells with Critical Thickness

  • Alexey Shuvaev,
  • Vlad Dziom,
  • Jan Gospodarič,
  • Elena G. Novik,
  • Alena A. Dobretsova,
  • Nikolay N. Mikhailov,
  • Ze Don Kvon,
  • Andrei Pimenov

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12142492
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 14
p. 2492

Abstract

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Mercury telluride (HgTe) thin films with a critical thickness of 6.5 nm are predicted to possess a gapless Dirac-like band structure. We report a comprehensive study on gated and optically doped samples by magnetooptical spectroscopy in the THz range. The quasi-classical analysis of the cyclotron resonance allowed the mapping of the band dispersion of Dirac charge carriers in a broad range of electron and hole doping. A smooth transition through the charge neutrality point between Dirac holes and electrons was observed. An additional peak coming from a second type of holes with an almost density-independent mass of around 0.04m0 was detected in the hole-doping range and attributed to an asymmetric spin splitting of the Dirac cone. Spectroscopic evidence for disorder-induced band energy fluctuations could not be detected in present cyclotron resonance experiments.

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