Room-temperature confinement and photoluminescence near 3 μm from HgCdTe multiple quantum wells

We report room‐temperature confinement and photoluminescence near 3 μm in a mercury cadmium telluride multiple quantum well. The absorption spectra show transitions from the first heavy and light hole confined levels to the first conduction electron confined level. Photoluminescence is present even at room temperature. The transition energies and temperature dependence of our data can be described by a square well model provided that a temperature‐independent value of approximately 400 meV is used for the HgTe‐CdTe valence‐band offset.