Influences of temperature and transport properties on the birefringence of CdGeAs2

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Abstract
We have directly measured the birefringence Δn of CdGeAs2 using polarized light interference spectra obtained in transmittance from 2.4 to 18 μm over a temperature range of 14–450 K. Four different samples, exhibiting a wide range of free carrier concentrations, were studied. It was found that free carriers can have a significant effect on the room-temperature birefringence. At 14 K, however, the data from all samples were virtually identical. The temperature dependence of Δn was obtained from a sample with low carrier concentration (≈1015/cm3) and high resistivity (9 Ω cm). Its temperature derivative d(Δn)/dT was determined at 50 K increments over the entire 14–450 K temperature range, and was found to vary from 2.6×10−5/K at 100 K to 5.1×10−5/K at 400 K. A least-squares fit to the data yielded a temperature coefficient for Δn of 8.2×10−8/K. Hall-effect measurements indicate that the resistivity, mobility, and carrier concentration all exhibit a significant temperature dependence. The resistivity for one sample increased by a factor of 108 when cooled from room temperature to 14 K. Our results suggest that previously published Δn values were probably obtained from samples with relatively high carrier concentrations, and that our results more accurately describe the true intrinsic birefringence of the material. The value of Δn decreases by 0.0004 per 1016 carriers a factor of 10 less than suggested by theory but still significantly large. The heavy to light hole effective mass ratio in the uppermost valence band was found to be 7.1.