Terahertz magnetospectroscopy of a point contact based on CdTe/CdMgTe quantum well

THz response of a number of samples based on CdTe/CdMgTe quantum wells grown by a molecular beam epitaxy was investigated at low temperatures and high magnetic fields. The experiments involved magnetotransport, photocurrent, and transmission measurements carried out with a monochromatic THz sources or a Fourier spectrometer. Samples of different geometry, with and without a gate metallization were used. We observed excitations of a two-dimensional plasma in the form of optically-induced Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations, cyclotron resonance transitions and magnetoplasmon resonances. A polaron effect was observed at magnetic fields higher than 10 T. A point contact device processed with an electron beam lithography was investigated as a detector of THz radiation. It was shown that the main mechanism responsible for a THz performance of the point contact was excitation of magnetoplasmons with a wave vector defined by geometrical constrictions of the device mesa.