Polarization dependence of intersubband absorption and photoconductivity in p-type SiGe quantum wells

We present a detailed study of the polarization dependence of subband absorption and photoconductivity in Si/SiGe quantum wells. For samples with a hole concentration of P_s = 2.8 × 10¹² cm^-2, both p- and s-polarized absorptions have been observed and transitions to several excited states are clearly identified by comparison with self-consistent Luttinger-Kohn type calculations. The photoconductivity is surprisingly insensitive to the polarization, which indicates the importance of the subsequent transport process on the photocurrent responsitivity.