Interband optical absorption obtained by pseudopotential method for type-II InAs/GaSb SL photodetectors

Abstract We have calculated interband optical absorption for InAs/GaSb based type-II superlattice (SL) structures. The empirical pseudopotential method (EPM) has been used as an alternative to the k.p method since it is less sophisticated while providing similar results in the mid wavelength infrared range and long wavelength infrared range atmospherics bands for comparison. EPM results show that the bandgap wavelengths of SLs have been predicted with the underestimating of 0.4 µ m. This corresponds to an uncertainty of less than 0.3 monolayer in the layer width. The theoretical estimation is comparable with the uncertainty of the layer width during the growth process. Heterostructures or SLs with their ternary and quaternary alloys can be calculated by this method to identify electronic and optical parameters for both intersubband and interband applications.