FAR INFRARED CYCLOTRON EMISSION IN SEMICONDUCTORS

Electrically excited cyclotron emission has been observed in several semiconductors (InSb, GaAs, CdHgTe and Si- inversion layers). Maximum output powers of 1 μW, a spectral linewidth of ≈ 2 cm-1 and a tunability from 20 cm-1 to 160 cm-1 are achieved with n-InSb and n-GaAs with electric fields up to 100 V/cm. A detailed study of the energy relaxation in n-InSb has shown that the total intensities observed are well described with hot electron distribution functions. The energy relaxation is governed by an interplay of electron-electron scattering and optical phonon emission. Electron-electron scattering is also responsible for the electronic lifetime in the N = 1 Landau level, giving values of ≈ 10-10 s for excited densities of 1013 cm-3. © 1979.