PbTe/Pb/sub 1-x/Sn/sub x/Te (x

Theoretical and experimental investigations on a narrow-gap multiquantum well (MQW) system with a many-valley band structure: PbTe/PbSnTe are presented. This system has a number of interesting features, including weak confinement of electrons and strain splitting of equivalent L-states, comparable to the conduction-band discontinuities. The result of empirical tight-binding calculations, namely, a type I band alignment, is confirmed by magnetooptical investigations in both magnetic-field orientations parallel and perpendicular to the layers. An envelope function calculation including quantizing magnetic fields is used for the analysis.<>