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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2011
A new method for calculation of superlattice (SL) piezoelectric properties is proposed. It is used for derivation of the piezoelectric constants of ultrathin [001] oriented (GaAs)m(AlAs)n SL. These SL are formally considered to result from complete ordering Ga (Al) atoms over a-positions of a hypothetical initial structure of a bulk mixed crystal of (GaxAl1-x)As with x=m/(m+n). This viewpoint allows us to develop a method which is close to the Landau phenomenological theory of second- order phase transitions and which is intended for calculation of the SL crystal-lophysical constants. It is shown that a nontrivial term has much significance in changing one of the piezoelectric constants, γz,xy, when the initial structure is transformed into a SL. This term is composed of coefficients at three translational invariants (Dzyaloshinskii invariants) in the expansion of the thermodynamic potential of the “ordering” system in a power series of the order parameter components. The values of these coefficients must be obtained from microscopic calculations which take account of spatial correlations in Ga(Al) atomic distribution. Specific calculations are carried out for a SL with m+n=3.