Cyclotron resonance photoconductivity of a two-dimensional electron gas in HgTe quantum wells

Far-infrared cyclotron resonance photoconductivity (CRP) is investigated in HgTe quantum wells (QWs) of various widths grown on (0 13) oriented GaAs substrates. It is shown that CRP is caused by the heating of two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG). From the resonance magnetic field strength effective masses and their dependence on the carrier concentration is obtained. We found that the effective mass in each sample slightly increases from the value (0.0260 +/- 0.0005)m(0) at N-s = 2.2 x 10(11) cm(-2) to (0.0335 +/- 0.0005)m(0) at N-s = 9.6 x 10(11) cm(-2). Compared to determination of effective masses by the temperature dependence of magnitudes of the Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations used so far in this material our measurements demonstrate that the CRP provides a more accurate (about few percents) tool. Combining optical methods with transport measurements, we found that the transport time substantially exceeds the cyclotron resonance lifetime as well as the quantum lifetime which is the shortest. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.