Lifetime calculations for Auger recombination in lead-tin-telluride

Calculations of lifetime have been carried out for intervalley Auger processes in PbSnTe. The more generalized treatment, as compared to Emtage´s earlier calculations, accounted for 1) nonparabolic dispersion laws, 2) arbitrary statistics, and 3) arbitrary injection level. The lifetime was found to be an order of magnitude larger than the value given by Emtage´s formula. As a result, the predicted performance of PbSnTe lasers and infrared detectors may be much better than thought before.