Ab Initio Calculations of the Anisotropic Dielectric Tensor of GaAs/AlAs Superlattices

Silvana Botti (1) , N. Vast (1) , L. Reining (1) , Valério Olevano (2) , L.C. Andreani

1 LSI - Laboratoire des Solides Irradiés - Irradiated Solids Laboratory
2 TSNPE

The static dielectric properties of (001)(GaAs)p/(AlAs)p superlattices have been calculated as a function of their period p for 1≤p≤12, starting from density-functional theory. The interplay between quantum confinement and local field effects is shown to be crucial. For light polarized in the growth direction it leads to the otherwise surprising justification of the use of a classical effective medium theory, even for the smallest periods. Only the inclusion of both contributions allows in ab initio and in semiempirical calculations to reproduce the experimentally observed birefringence.

Domaines: Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

Silvana Botti, N. Vast, L. Reining, Valério Olevano, L.C. Andreani. Ab Initio Calculations of the Anisotropic Dielectric Tensor of GaAs/AlAs Superlattices. Physical Review Letters, 2002, 89, pp.216803. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.216803⟩. ⟨hal-00438375⟩