Pressure dependence of intersubband transitions in HgTe/Hg 0.3Cd0.7Te superlattices

The optical absorption coefficient of HgTe/Hg0.3Cd0.7Te superlattices (SLs) and its pressure dependence has been investigated at hydrostatic pressures up to 30 kbar at room temperature. The corresponding intersubband transition energies result from a comparison of experimental and theoretical absorption coefficients. The latter is based on the band structure, which is calculated using Kane's four-band (8 X 8 k center dot p) model together with the envelope function approximation. The experimental linear pressure coefficients of the H1 - E1 and H1 - L1 intersubband transitions are in good agreement with the theoretical values, e.g., 7.15 +/- 0.3 meV/kbar and 6.2 +/- 0.3 meV/kbar compared to 7.4 and 6.4 meV/kbar, respectively. This is in stark contrast to the pressure dependence of <= 1 meV/kbar of the photoluminescence (PL) peaks of a similar SL reported in the literature. Consequently, we conclude that the reported PL peaks are not due to intersubband transitions and that the k center dot p model correctly reproduces the electronic band structure and its pressure dependence of HgTe/Hg1-xCdxTe SLs.