http://arxiv.org/abs/1310.0969 The authors acknowledge helpful discussions with T. Brauner, R. Grill, M. Grynberg, A. A. Nersesyan, V. Novák, M. L. Sadowski and W. Zawadzki. The work has been supported by the ERC project MOMB, by EuroMagNET II under the EU Contract No. 228043, by the GDR-I project 'Semiconductor sources and detectors of THz frequencies' and by the Scientific Council of Montpellier II University. We also acknowledge the support received from the Ambassade de France en Russie for the French-Russian collaboration and exchange of PhD students.International audienceSolid-state physics and quantum electrodynamics, with its ultrarelativistic (massless) particles, meet in the electronic properties of one-dimensional carbon nanotubes, two-dimensional graphene or topological-insulator surfaces. However, clear experimental evidence for electronic states with a conical dispersion relation in all three dimensions, conceivable for certain bulk materials, is still missing. Here, we study a zinc-blende crystal, HgCdTe, at the point of the semiconductor-to-semimetal topological transition. For this compound, we observe three-dimensional massless electrons, as certified from the dynamical conductivity increasing linearly with the photon frequency, with a velocity of about 106 m s−1. Applying a magnetic field B results in a -dependence of dipole-active inter-Landau-level resonances and spin splitting of Landau levels also following a -dependence--well-established signatures of ultrarelativistic particles but until now not observed experimentally in any solid-state electronic system

We zone-engineered HgCdTe/HgTe/HgCdTe quantum wells (QWs) using the molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) method with in situ high-precision ellipsometric control of composition and thickness. The variations of ellipsometric parameters in the w-D plane were represented by smooth broken curves during HgTe QW growth with abrupt composition changes. The form of the spiral fragments and their extensions from fracture to fracture revealed the growing layer composition and its thickness. Single and multiple (up to 30) Cd x Hg 1Àx Te/HgTe/Cd x Hg 1Àx Te QWs with abrupt changes of composition were grown reproducibly on (013) GaAs substrates. HgTe thickness was in the range of 16 nm to 22 nm, with the central portion of Cd x Hg 1Àx Te spacers doped by In to a concentration of 10 14 cm À3 to 10 17 cm À3 . Based on this research, high-quality (013)-grown HgTe QW structures can be used for all-electric detection of radiation ellipticity in a wide spectral range, from far-infrared (terahertz radiation) to mid-infrared wavelengths. Detection was demonstrated for various low-power continuous-wave (CW) lasers and high-power THz pulsed laser systems.

It has recently been shown that electronic states in bulk gapless HgCdTe offer another realization of pseudo-relativistic three-dimensional particles in condensed matter systems. These single valley relativistic states, massless Kane fermions, cannot be described by any other relativistic particles. Furthermore, the HgCdTe band structure can be continuously tailored by modifying cadmium content or temperature. At critical concentration or temperature, the bandgap collapses as the system undergoes a semimetal-to-semiconductor topological phase transition between the inverted and normal alignments. Here, using far-infrared magneto-spectroscopy we explore the continuous evolution of band structure of bulk HgCdTe as temperature is tuned across the topological phase transition. We demonstrate that the rest mass of Kane fermions changes sign at critical temperature, whereas their velocity remains constant. The velocity universal value of (1.07±0.05) × 106 m s−1 remains valid in a broad range of temperatures and Cd concentrations, indicating a striking universality of the pseudo-relativistic description of the Kane fermions in HgCdTe.