Effect of uniaxial stress on Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in HgSe

The Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) effect was used to study the strain dependence of the energy-band structure in HgSe. The application of uniaxial stress decreased the SdH frequencies; the changes depended upon the magnetic field direction and the electron concentration. At zero stress the SdH frequency F exhibits an anisotropy with respect to magnetic field direction which is characteristic of a warped Fermi surface F11̄1>F11̄0>F₀₀₁. Under application of stress of 1 kbar along the [110] crystallographic direction, the anisotropy is such that F11̄0>F11̄1>F₀₀₁. This stress-induced anisotropy is shown to be the result of the stress-induced ellipsoidal nature of the conduction band. The strain theory developed by Bir and Pikus explains the effect of uniaxial stress on the energy-band structure of HgSe and enables values of the shear-deformation-potential parameters to be determined: b-1.4 eV and d-2.7 eV.