THz cyclotron resonance of a 2D hole gas in a GaN/AlN heterostructure
The recent discovery of highly conducting two-dimensional hole gases (2DHGs) in GaN/AlN heterojunctions has opened the door to efficient complementary GaN electronics, a long-standing challenge in wide-bandgap semiconductor device physics. Electrical transport studies and simulations indicate that both heavy- and light-hole valence bands are occupied in these 2DHGs, but direct experimental characterization of the fundamental parameters of the mobile holes remains at an early stage. Here, we use time-domain terahertz spectroscopy and pulsed magnetic fields up to 31 T to directly measure cyclotron resonance of the mobile 2D holes in these GaN-based 2DHGs at low temperature (8 K), revealing key material properties including effective masses, densities, scattering times, and mobilities.