We report a study of optical properties, namely the optical band gaps, the refractive index and the high-frequency and static dielectric constants of zinc-blende AlInP ternary semiconductor alloys. The calculations are mainly based on the pseudopotential approach under a modified virtual crystal approximation that takes into account the effect of compositional disorder. The composition dependence of the band parameters of interest has been examined and discussed. The material system under consideration is found to be a direct band-gap semiconductor within the composition range 0 x 0.4 and an indirect band-gap semiconductor for 0.4 x 1. A good agreement is noticed between our results and the available experimental and theoretical data quoted in the literature.
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