Hot-Electron Transfer in Gallium Antimonide from Infrared Faraday Effect

Measurements of the infrared Faraday effect at 3.39 μm have been performed to obtain information about the carrier transfer between the ${\Gamma }_1$ and $L_1$ conduction-band minima at high electric fields in GaSb. For high-mobility semiconductors in the near infrared, the Faraday effect is practically independent of the momentum relaxation time, and its decrease with electric field can be related to carrier transfer between minima. An analyzer has been built with a minimum resolution of 3 × ${10}^{-3\mathrm{}}$ deg. A decrease of 14% has been observed in the electron population of the ${\Gamma }_1$ valley at 1.1 kV/cm, which is in good agreement with calculated values. Influences of nonparabolic conduction-band and carrier heating on the Faraday effect are considered.