Terahertz Photoluminescence of Double Acceptors in Bulky Epitaxial HgCdTe Layers and HgTe/CdHgTe Structures with Quantum Wells

The photoluminescence of bulky films and heterostructures with HgCdTe quantum wells is studied in the far IR range upon interband optical excitation. Photoluminescence lines are found whose position is independent of temperature, and intensity nonmonotonically changes with increasing temperature. These lines are shown to be related to the radiative recombination of holes by singly ionized mercury vacancies. A drastic increase in the equilibrium recombination of such centers involved in the formation of the photoluminescence signal with the temperature change from 40 to 70 K leads to the nonmonotonic temperature dependence of the photoluminescence intensity.