W. Seidel et al., OBSERVATION OF GIANT BIREFRINGENCE AND DICHROISM IN INP-ALINAS TYPE-II SUPERLATTICES, Solid-state electronics, 40(1-8), 1996, pp. 729-732
We report the observation of large birefringence and rotation power ju
st above the spatially indirect band-gap of InP-AlInAs type II superla
ttices. These effects are particularly unexpected for materials with t
he zinc-blend structure in the absence of asymmetric external potentia
l. We relate their existence to the built-in asymmetry of the M(1)-M(2
) and M(2)-M(1) interfaces in systems where the host materials M(1) an
d M(2) share no common atom.