Theoretical optical parameters for III-nitride semiconductors

The III-nitride compounds (GaN, AlN, BN, and InN) are semiconductor materials which are promising for application in optoelectronics. They find applications in light emitting diodes, laser diodes and luminescent alloys. In the present work we calculate by means of an ab initio method the optical response functions for these compounds in their cubic phase (zinc-blend). We obtain the absorption coefficients, alpha(E), the dielectric constant, epsilon(E), the reflectance, R(E), and the index of refraction, n(E) from the calculated energy band structures of the semiconductors. The values are compared to the available values in the literature. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.