Shallow acceptor bound exciton and free exciton states in high-purity zinc telluride

We investigated excitons bound to shallow acceptors in high-purity ZnTe and measured excitation spectra of two-hole luminescence lines at 1.6 K using a tunable dye-laser. The electron-hole coupling in the bound exciton (BE) states appears to be very different for the various acceptors even for almost identical exciton localisation energies. Three different types of BE are reported. For the Li-acceptor BE we observe three sub-components separated by 0.22 and 0.17 meV and interpreted as J = $\text{1}\text{2}$, $\text{3}\text{2}$, $\text{5}\text{2}$ states. The Ag-acceptor BE exhibits a strong ground state and a weak excited state at 1.3 meV higher energy. For the as yet unidentified k-acceptor we observe a single BE level, degenerate with the Ag-acceptor BE ground state. Dips in the excitation spectra due to absorption into free exciton 1S, 2S, and 3S states yield an exciton Rydberg R₀ = 12.8±0.3 meV and a free exciton binding energy FE(1S) = 13.2±0.3 meV.