Unusual Urbach tail in TlGaSe2 ferroelectric-semiconductor with incommensurate phase

An analysis of temperature behavior of optical absorption edge is performed for TlGaSe2 ferroelectric-semiconductor with incommensurate phase. Unusual behavior of the Urbach tail manifested by the shift of the absorption edge toward the higher energies with increasing temperature was observed. It was shown that such behavior is due to the specific temperature interval where Urbach energy decreases with the temperature. This interval corresponds to the incommensurate phase-commensurate phase transition region. Unusual behavior of the Urbach energy can be explained interpreting the incommensurate phase as some type of disordered state, and TlGaSe2 crystal as a disordered semiconductor with controllable disorder. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4765736]