Abstract: Measurements were made of the lifetimes rf of free carriers and the relaxation time 7, of the submillimeter impurity photoconductivity when carriers are captured by attracting shallow donors and acceptom in Ge. It is nod that in samples with capture-center concentration N,Z 10"cm-' the relaxation time 7, greatly exceeds rf in the temperature range 4.2-12 K. The measured values of 7,- are compared with the calculation of cascade recombination by the classical model. To evaluate the data on T,, the distinguishing features of this model are considered for the nonstationary case. The substantial difference betweea the values of rf and T, is attributed to re-emission of the carriers from the excited states of the shallow impurities.

Abstract: An investigation was made of the dependences of the intensities of photothermal ionization lines of excited states of shallow impurities in Ge on the intensity of impurity-absorbed background radiation and on temperature. The results obtained were used to find the density and lifetime of carriers of lower excited states of the impurity centers. The lifetimes of the excited states of donors in Ge were 10-~-10-" sec and the lifetime of the lower excited state of acceptors was -lo-' sec. In the presence of background radiation the population of the excited states was very different from the equilibrium value and, in particular, a population inversion of the 2pk, state relative to the 3p0 and 3s states was observed.