The absorption coefficient determines how far into a material light of a particular wavelength can

penetrate before it is absorbed.The absorption coefficient is defined as the rate of decrease in the
intensity of the light as it is passed through a certain material. Mathematically it is defined as the
depth in the material up to which light intensity decreases to e
-1
. Its unit is cm
-1.
.
Absorption coefficient can be expressed as
) ( ) ( ) (
0
E E E
high E
o o o + = .(1)
where
=absorption coefficient in cm
-1
.
E=Photon Energy in eV.
The first term (
E
0
(E)) describes the absorption for the lowest direct band gap (E
0
) and the
second term accounts for the absorption above the band gap. Indirect transition below the
indirect band gap are not considered. E
0
transition involves heavy hole and light hole valence
bands and s like conduction band at the centre of brillouin zone ( =0).
With assumption of parabolic dispersion (E-K relation) the E
0
absorption can be expressed as
| | | | ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (
0 0
0
E f E f E E f E f E E
c lh
clh
c hh
chh E
+ = o o o .(2)
In equation 2
where
E= Energy band gap in eV.

0
cv
is the absorption coefficient for an empty conduction band and a full valence band.(v=lh/hh)
Superscript chh(clh) is for transition between heavy hole (light hole) and conduction band.
f
c
(E) and f
v
(E) is the occupation probability for the conduction band states and valence band
states separated by energy E.
absorption coefficient can be expressed in terms of
1
c (real part) and
cv
2
c (imaginary part)
of empty band dielectric function.
) (
) (
) (
1
2
0
E c
E E
E
cv
cv
c
c
o

= .. (3)
is Plancks constant.
The real part of the dielectric constant changes a little over the band gap. It is fitted in a equation
on the basis of experimental data of real part of dielectric function in germanium. As real part
changes negligible so strain and compositional effect neglected for this value.
62 . 2
88 . 11 03 . 11
) (
1

=
E
E c (4)
For each of the heavy hole and light hole transitions the imaginary part of the dielectric constant
can be written as
) ( ) ( ) ( ) (
2
E S E E E
cv cv
f
cv
x
cv
c c c + = (5) [ref. V. R. DCosta, Y. Fang, J. Mathews, R.
Roucka, J. Tolle, J. Menndez, and J.Kouvetakis, Semicond. Sci. Technol. 24, 115006 (2009).]

cv
x
c ( below band gap excitonic contributions) and
cv
f
c is the dielectric function for free
uncorrelated hole-electron pairs multiplied by ) (E S
cv
sommerfield enhancement factor.
[J. A. Burton, Physica 20, 845 (1954)]
Below band gap excitonic contributions given by:

=
=
=
n
n
n
cv cv cv
x
E E
n m E
R e P
1
3
0
2 2 2
2 4
2
) (
1
16
o
c
t
c

.(5)
[J. A. Burton, Physica 20, 845 (1954)]
P is the momentum matrix element, e is the electronic charge,
cv
is reduced electron hole
mass.
0
c is the static dielectric constant, m is the electron rest mass and is Plancks
constant.
cv
R is Rydberg constant which is mathematically defined as
) 2 (
2
0
2
4
c

e
R
cv
cv
= (6).
With this definition excitonic energy (E
n
) can be written as
2
0
n
R
E E
cv
v n
= , where
v
E
0
is the
direct band gap for heavy holes, v=hh (light holes, v=lh).
The expression for
cv
f
c is given by [J. A. Burton, Physica 20, 845 (1954)]
) ( ) (
3
2 4
0
5 .
0
2 2
5 . 1 2 2
v v
cv
cv
f
E E E E
E m
P e
O =

c ..(7)
) (x O is unit step function. Sommerfield enhancement factor given by
cv
cv cv
cv
e
E S
t
t
t
sinh
) ( = ..(8)
5 .
0
(

=
v
cv
cv
E E
R
t t ..(9)
cv
t is transition time for heavy hole (light hole electrons).
The heavy hole and light hole
direct band gap can be calculated
by considering strain using
standard deformation potential
theory.
0
E o is the strain shift in the band edge.
001
E o is strain shift in 001 direction. Expression for strain
shifts are given by

c o
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
11
12
0
1 2
C
C
a E
h

c o
|
|
.
|

\
|
= 1
2
2
11
12
001
C
C
b E
h
a
and
b
are hydrostatic potential and shear deformation potential respectively.

c is the in plane
strain coefficient which is given by
0
0
a
a a
=

c
Where a is strained lattice constant and a
0
is relaxed lattice constant.
The direct band gap E
0
plays a critical role due to dependence on composition of Sn. The
expression given by
) 1 ( ) 1 ( ) (
0 0 0
x bx x E x E x E
Sn Ge
+ =

Where
Ge
E
0
=0.8eV,
Sn
E
0
= -0.4eV, b=Bowing parameter which has value -2.5eV.
The occupation probability for conduction band and heavy hole/light hole band given by
001 0 0 0
001 0
2
0
2
001 001 0
0
0 0
2
1
) (
4
9
2
1
4
1
2
E E E E
E E E E E E
hh
lh
o o
o o o o
+ + =
A + A + +
A
+ =
(

+
=
T K
E E
E f
B
fc e
c
exp 1
1
) (
(

+
=
T K
E E
E f
B
hh f
hh
exp 1
1
) (
e
E is
the electron energy in conduction band and
hh
E is heavy hole energy. The expressions for
these energy is given by [Semiconductors and Semimetals, Volume 39, Richard K et al.,
Academic Press ,1993]
) (
g
e
r
e
E E
m
m
E =
) (
g
e
r
hh
E E
m
m
E =
r
m ,
e
m
and
hh
m are the reduced mass for electron and the hole.
hh e
hh e
r
m m
m m
m
+
=
The material parameters reported for Germanium given by [V. R. DCosta, Y. Y. Fang, J. Tolle,
J. Kouvetakis, and J. Menndez, Thin Solid Films 518, 2531 (2010).]
E
0
(eV) P
2
/2m

m
clh

m
chh

0
c
0
A
(eV)

h
a (eV)
b(eV) C
12
/C
11
0.803 12.61 0.01803 0.0300 16.2 0.297 -9.64 -1.88 0.3755

Calculation of Matrix Element(P)[Kane,1957]: matrix element can be expressed by
2
2
0 2
p
m
P |
.
|

\
|
=

. p is the interband momentum matrix parameter. Kane estimated its expression

which is used for direct band gap structures.
0
0
*
0
*
0 2 2
2 3 2
3
A +
A +
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
g
g
e
e
E
E
m m
m m
p
0
A ,
*
0
m ,
g
E and
0
m are the spin-orbit splitting energy, effective mass of electron
in the conduction band, band gap and electron rest mass.
So the matrix element is given by
( )
g
g
g
e
e
E
E
E
m m
m
m
P
0
0
*
0
*
0 2
2 3 2
3
A +
A +
=
Different material parameters for Ge, Si, and -Sn which used in the calculations of Absorption
coefficients as reported in literature are[Ref. :N.Yahyaoui et al., Journal of Applied Physics
115,033109 (2014).
a C
11
C
12
E
v,av

0
V
b a
c
a
v
1 2
Si 5.4311 1.675 0.690 -0.47 0.04 -2.1 1.98 2.46 4.22 0.39
Ge 5.6579 1.315 0.494 0 0.30 -2.9 -8.24 1.24 13.38 4.24
-Sn 6.4892 6.9 2.9 0.69 0.80 -2.7 -5.33 1.55 -15 -11.45

a=lattice constant in .
C
11
C
12
=elastic stiffness coefficient in 10
12
dyne/cm
2
.
E
v,av
= valence band average energy in eV.
0
V =spin- orbit splitting in eV.
b,a
c
,a
v
=deformation potential in eV.
1, 2=kohn luttinger parameters.