Abstract
The infrared absorption (at λ=10.63 μm) of an electron-hole plasma, created in a thin silicon waveguide by intermittent electron beam bombardment, is measured experimentally and analyzed theoretically. In the absence of all external fields (except those of the probing laser beam) the imaginary dielectric constant is shown to be a linear function of the carrier concentration in the range 2×1022–2×1023 m−3 at room temperature. Furthermore, it is shown that the method can be used to study the possible carrier dependence of either the carrier lifetime or the surface recombination velocity.