Stress‐induced splitting of excitons due to exchange interaction in zinc telluride

The effect of uniaxial stress on the exciton reflection spectrum at 77 °K of ZnTe was studied by the wavelength modulation technique. The observed splitting is explained taking into account the exchange interaction between the spins of the electron and the hole composing the excition. From comparison of the experiment and the appropriate theory it is concluded that in ZnTe at 77 °K the second‐order term of exchange interaction being linear in strain and describing the variation of exchange interaction with stress plays the main role.