Optical properties of the filled tetrahedral semiconductors LiMgX (X = N, P and As)

First principles calculations, by means of the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave method within the local density approximation, were carried out for the electronic and optical properties of the filled tetrahedral compounds LiMgN, LiMgP and LiMgAs. The bandgap trend in the ternaries is found to be similar to the one encountered in the zinc-blende AlX. The assignment of the structures in the optical spectra and band structure transitions are investigated in detail. The predicted values of the dielectric constants for LiMgN, LiMgP and LiMgAs are close to those of the binary compounds AlN, AlP and AlAs.