The effect of hydrostatic pressure on the electronic and optical properties of InP

Based on the empirical pseudo-potential method, the electronic and optical properties of the InP compound in the zinc-blende structure at ambient and under hydrostatic pressure are reported. The first-order pressure coefficie nts of the main band gaps (at Gamma, X, and L) are given. The agreement bet ween our calculated hydrostatic deformation potential and the available exp erimental data is better than 5%, whereas for the crossover pressure from d irect to indirect band eap is about 10% less. The valence bandwidth increas es with increasing pressure reflecting the decreased ionicity in the materi al of interest. Besides the electronic properties, the effect of pressure o n the dielectric function is also analysed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.