THE COMPUTATION OF LINEAR AND NONLINEAR-OPTICAL CONSTANTS OF SEMICONDUCTORS

We review the problem posed by the calculation of the optical constant s of solids and the adaptation of the equation-of-motion method for th is purpose. In the past crystalline materials were studied by employin g Bloch's theorem, but for amorphous materials and surfaces symmetry c annot generally be used to reduce the computation to manageable propor tions. The equation-of-motion method avoids the need for diagonalizati on in calculating linear and nonlinear optical properties for large st ructural models of both crystalline and amorphous semiconductors. This approach should offer a practical technique for calculating the optic al properties of large systems.