ZnSe-ZnCdSe single quantum wells: dispersion relations and absorption processes

We have investigated theoretically the optical properties of strained (001) ZnSe-(Zn, Cd)Se single quantum wells with a low cadmium content (~10%). Due to the band offset and strain energy, the electron-to-light-hole transitions are marginally type I. We compute the dispersion relations and joint density of states for a typical structure away from Λ and show that the degeneracy can occur between lh1 and hh3 sub-bands in a large area of the Brillouin zone. This can cancel the selection rules for interband processes.