Angular-dependent magnetoluminescence study of the layer compound2H-PbI2

Abstract
The near-band-gap recombination radiation of the layer compound 2H-PbI2 is studied in magnetic fields up to 18 T from 1.7 to 40 K. The principal bound exciton (BE) splits anisotropically and shows a small diamagnetic shift in magnetic field. On the basis of these results the binding center of the BE is identified as being a neutral donor. According to the pseudoacceptor model for (D0, X) bound excitons the isotropic g value of the hole, gh=0.4, is equal to the g value of the valence band. The diamagnetic shift allows the determination of the free-hole mass to be mh=0.195 m0. This is the first determination of these band-structure parameters for PbI2, and gives the effective-mass acceptor binding energy EA=71 meV, which is shown to be at the same time an upper limit for the excitonic binding energy. The anisotropic bound-electron g values are deduced to be g=1.4 and g=2.1. The sign and size of the parameters determined agree well with predictions of band-structure theory. The free exciton shows an angular-dependent shift to lower energy with increasing magnetic field. This is shown to be due to a linear Zeeman splitting of the A3 exciton state, the upper split level becoming depopulated with magnetic field due to thermalization. Exciton g values gex=1.0±0.5, gex=2.0±0.5 are found. From this the free-electron g values are deduced to be gel=1.4±0.6, gel=2.4±0.6. By comparing the spectra obtained at zero magnetic field for k parallel and perpendicular to c, the splitting of the A3, A2 exciton levels is derived to be ≤0.8 meV.