Pseudopotential methods for superlattices: Applications to mid-infrared semiconductor lasers

Many mid-infrared semiconductor laser sources are now being developed with superlattice active regions. Calculations of gain, index of refraction, and intervalence subband absorption for these laser materials require accurate subband energies, wave functions, and radiative matrix elements. We have recently begun using a solution method based on the empirical pseudopotential method (EPM). This method shows particular strength in analyzing structures with short periods or thin layers, for which the standard method, based on k . p perturbation theory and the envelope function approximation, may be problematical. We will describe the EPM applied to bulk solids and then demonstrate our direct generalization of the method for applications to superlattice structures. Calculations for recently developed mid-infrared semiconductor lasers using type-II superlattice active regions will be used to illustrate the method. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(99)07515-5].