Twin boundary dominated electric field distribution in CdZnTe detectors

The performance of CdZnTe X/γ-ray detectors is strongly affected by the electric field distribution in terms of charge transport and charge collection.Factors which determine the electric field distribution are not only electric contact,but also intrinsic defects,especially grown-in twin boundaries.Here,the electric field distribution around twin boundaries is investigated in a CdZnTe bicrystal detector with a{111}–{111}twin plane using the Pockels electro-optic effect.The results of laser beam induced current pulses are also obtained by the transient current technique,and we discuss the influence of the twin boundary on the electric field evolution.These studies reveal a significant distortion of the electric field,which is attributed to the buildup of space charges at twin boundaries.Also,the position of these space charge regions depends on the polarity of the detector bias.An energy band model based on the formation of an n–n+–n junction across the twin boundary has been established to explain the observed results.

Terahertz emission from layered GaTe crystal due to surface lattice reorganization and in-plane noncubic mobility anisotropy

In this work, a model based on the optical rectification effect and the photocurrent surge effect is proposed to describe the terahertz emission mechanism of the layered GaTe crystal. As a centrosymmetric crystal, the optical rectification effect arises from the breaking of the inversion symmetry due to lattice reorganization of the crystal’s surface layer. In addition, the photocurrent surge originating from the unidirectional charge carrier diffusion-due to the noncubic mobility anisotropy within the layers-produces terahertz radiation. This is confirmed by both terahertz emission spectroscopy and electric property characterization. The current surge perpendicular to the layers also makes an important contribution to the terahertz radiation, which is consistent with its incident angle dependence. Based on our results, we infer that the contribution of optical rectification changes from 90%under normal incidence to 23% under a 40° incidence angle. The results not only demonstrate the terahertz radiation properties of layered GaTe bulk crystals, but also promise the potential application of terahertz emission spectroscopy for characterizing the surface properties of layered materials.