Influence of hydrostatic pressure on interband photoconductivity in tellurium

Spectral and relaxation characteristics of the photoconductivity in tellurium under hydrostatic pressures up to 5 kbar are investigated at wavelengths of 2 to 5 μm and a temperature of ≈︁ 80° K. The forbidden energy gap εg was found to decrease linearly with pressure ((1/εg°) (ϱεg/ϱP) = −5.6 × 10−2 kbar−1). It is shown that non‐linear, direct interband recombination of excess carriers takes place in tellurium. The recombination rate can be represented as a sum of linear and quadratic terms in carrier concentration which are supposed to correspond to radiative and non‐radiative recombination, respectively. [Russian Text Ignored].