Optical properties of HgTe-CdTe superlattices

Abstract

The first theoretical calculation of the optical properties of HgTe-CdTe superlattices is presented. The envelope function method is used to obtain the superlattice band structure, and then an interpolation scheme is employed to compute ε2(ω) the imaginary part of a dielectric function. The major conclusion is that the optical properties of the superlattice near the band edges are such that the absorption may be comparable to or ever larger than that in the alloys.