We report on the observation of magneto-oscillations of terahertz radiation induced photocurrent in HgTe/HgCdTe quantum wells of different widths, which are characterized by a Dirac-like, inverted, and normal parabolic band structure. The photocurrent data are accompanied by measurements of photoresistance (photoconductivity), radiation transmission, as well as magnetotransport. We develop a microscopic model of a cyclotron-resonance assisted photogalvanic effect, which describes main experimental findings. We demonstrate that the quantum oscillations of the photocurrent are caused by the crossing of Fermi level by Landau levels resulting in the oscillations of spin polarization and electron mobilities in spin subbands. Theory explains a photocurrent direction reversal with the variation of magnetic field observed in experiment. We describe the photoconductivity oscillations related with the thermal suppression of the Shubnikov–de Haas effect.

• Received 4 July 2014
• Revised 29 August 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.90.205415