The effect of plastic deformation at low (4.2 or 77K) temperatures upon optical absorption, luminescence and photoconductivity was investigated. It was shown that even very little (about 0.0001) plastic deformation led to the observation of marked and spatially inhomogeneous changes in the optical spectra of both the near-bandedge region and the range of deep centers. The part played by the metastable point defect complexes which were introduced by plastic flow was deduced. The crystallographic nature, and the optical and electrical properties, of the defect centers were considered. Optical transitions of the defect centers were explained in terms of a bound exciton mechanism. It was concluded that there was a variation in the carrier lifetime, due to the destruction of non-radiative centers by dislocation glide.

N.I.Tarbaev, J.Schreiber, G.A.Shepelskii: Physica Status Solidi A, 1988, 110[1], 97-106