EDGE STRAIN RELAXATION IN QUANTUM-WELLS GROWN ON THE CLEAVED EDGE OF A STRAINED SEMICONDUCTOR SUPERLATTICE

In this Brief Report we address, from a theoretical point of view, the question of the existence and the localization of strain-induced quan tum wires when one deposits a strained quantum well on the cleaved edg e of a strained superlattice (such as a CdTe quantum well on the cleav ed edge of a CdTe/CdxZn1-xTe superlattice). For systems in which terna ry layers are made of perfectly homogeneous composition alloys, and wi th no width fluctuation, we show a very strong decay of the strain mod ulation versus the distance to the cleavage interface. We also demonst rate a strong strain relaxation near the edge of the structure.