A comparative study of a Heusler alloy Co2FeGe using LSDA and LSDA+U

We have calculated the on-site Coulomb repulsion (U) for the transition elements Co and Fe. To study the impact of Hubbard potential or on-site Coulomb repulsion (U) on structural and electronic properties the calculated values of U were added on GGA and LSDA. We performed the structure optimization of Co₂FeGe based on the generalized gradient approximation (GGA and GGA+U). The calculation of electronic structure was based on the full potential linear augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method and local spin density approximation (LSDA) as well as exchange correlation LSDA+U. The Heusler alloy Co₂FeGe fails to give the half-metallic ferromagnetism (HMF) when treated with LSDA. The LSDA+U gives a good result to prove that Co₂FeGe is a HMF with a large gap of 1.10 eV and the Fermi energy (E_F) lies at the middle of the gap of minority spin. The calculated density of states (DOS) and band structure show that Co₂FeGe is a HMF when treated with LSDA+U.     

First principles investigation on the band gap of the ground state of LaCoO3

The band gap of LaCoO₃ in ground state is obtained from the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) with on-site Coulomb correction (GGA+U) calculations (U=3.4 eV, J=0.49 eV ), which agrees with the experimental result very well. A series of local spin density approximation (LSDA) with on-site Coulomb corrections (LSDA+U) and GGA+U calculations are performed with various U and J parameters to understand the recently published band gaps of 1.43 eV from LSDA+U (U=8.33 eV ) and 1.0 eV from GGA+U (U=2.7) calculations. The partial density of states (PDOSs) are presented to investigate the origin of the band gap.     

Theoretical study of metal-insulator transition in rhombohedral vanadium sesquioxide

The electronic structure and the metal-insulator transition (MIT) of V₂O₃ are investigated in the framework of density functional theory and GGA+U. It is found that, both the insulating and metallic phases can be realized in rhombohedral structure by varying the on-site Coulomb interaction, and the MIT in V₂O₃ can take place without any structure phase transition. Our calculated energy gap (0.63 eV) agrees with experimental result very well. The metallic phase exhibits high spin (S=1) character, but it becomes S=1/2 in insulating phase. According to our analysis, the Mott-Hubbard and the charge-transfer induce the MIT together, and it supports the mechanism postulated by Tanaka (2002) [11].     

Hyperfine interactions and electronic structures of BaFe 2 As 2 : a first-principles LDA+U study

The hyperfine parameters of hyperfine fields, electric field gradients and isomer shifts at the Fe site are investigated based on the first-principles calculations of the electronic structures using LDA (GGA)+U method in the low-temperature orthorhombic antiferromagnetic phase of undoped BaFe₂As₂. It is fond that the electric field gradient of Fe nucleus is highly related with the electronic structures close to the Fermi level. Though the addition of negative on-site Coulomb interaction to Fe-3d states improves the calculated magnetic moment of Fe atom and the hyperfine parameters of Fe nucleus when U = ?0.1 Ry (?0.08 Ry) for GGA+U (LDA+U) method, a negative U correction does not capture the right physics of this system. The calculations prove the strong coupling between the magnetic, structural and electronic properties in antiferromagnetic BaFe₂As₂ parent.     

Magnetic and electronic structure studies of the perovskite oxide Nd2/3Sr1/3MnO3 from the first principle calculation

Generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and GGA + U (U denotes on-site Coulomb interactions) methods are applied to investigate the magnetic and electronic structures of the perovskite oxide Nd_2/3Sr_1/3MnO₃. Under GGA the compound prefers ferrimagnetic ordering in which Nd sublattice is spin-antiparallel to Mn sublattice. Nd 4f states cross over the Fermi level under GGA, leading the ferrimagnetic Nd_2/3Sr_1/3MnO₃ to a metallic character. The on-site Coulomb interactions should be included to emphasize the localized feature of Nd 4f states. Under GGA + U, the spins of Nd and Mn sublattices tend to be parallel in the ground state, and fully spin-polarized Mn 3d electrons yield a half-metallic band structure for the ferromagnetic Nd_2/3Sr_1/3MnO₃. The ferromagnetic coupling between Nd and Mn sublattices is ascribed to the super-exchange interaction between Nd 4f and Mn 3d (t2g) electrons via O 2p electrons.     

A DFT + U description of oxygen vacancies at the TiO2 rutile (1 1 0) surface

Experimental observations indicate that removing bridging oxygen atoms from the TiO₂ rutile (1 1 0) surface produces a localised state approximately 0.7 eV below the conduction band. The corresponding excess electron density is thought to localise on the pair of Ti atoms neighbouring the vacancy; formally giving two Ti³⁺ sites. We consider the electronic structure and geometry of the oxygen deficient TiO₂ rutile (1 1 0) surface using both gradient-corrected density functional theory (GGA DFT) and DFT corrected for on-site Coulomb interactions (GGA + U) to allow a direct comparison of the two methods. We show that GGA fails to predict the experimentally observed electronic structure, in agreement with previous uncorrected DFT calculations on this system. Introducing the +U term encourages localisation of the excess electronic charge, with the qualitative distribution depending on the value of U. For low values of U (?4.0 eV) the charge localises in the sub-surface layers occupied in the GGA solution at arbitrary Ti sites, whereas higher values of U (?4.2 eV) predict strong localisation with the excess electronic charge mainly on the two Ti atoms neighbouring the vacancy. The precise charge distribution for these larger U values is found to differ from that predicted by previous hybrid-DFT calculations.     

Strongly Correlated Effect in TiS2

The thermoelectric compound TiS2 is studied by using the full-potential linearized augmented plane-wave method on the density functional theory with the generalized gradient approximation （GGA） as well as the on-site Coulomb interaction correction （＋U）. The Seebeck coefficient of TiS2 is calculated based on the electronic structure obtained within the GGA under the consideration of the on-site Coulomb interaction. The calculated Seebeck coefficient at 300K shows that Coulomb interaction U in the range of 4.97-5.42eV is important to reproduce the experimental data. The obtained energy gap Eg around 0.05 eV indicates that TiS2 is an indirect narrow-gap semiconductor.     

Investigation of possible half-metal material on double perovskites Sr2BBO6 (B,B=3d transition metal) using first-principle calculations

We investigated the possible candidates of half-metal (HM) material in double perovskites structure Sr₂BB′O₆ (B, B′=3d transition metal). The electronic structure calculations were based on density functional theory (DFT) with both generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and GGA+U approaches, where +U is on-site Coulomb interaction correction. With the consideration of 4 types of magnetic states, i.e. ferromagnetic (FM), ferromagnetic (FiM), antimagnetic (AF) and nonmagnetic (NM), we found 5 promising candidates for half-metallic (HM) materials: Sr₂ScCrO₆, Sr₂TiCrO₆, Sr₂MnCrO₆, Sr₂ZnMnO₆ and Sr₂ZnFeO₆.     

Comparison of the structural and magnetic properties of ground-state SrTcO3 and CaTcO3 from first principles

The generalized gradient approximation (GGA) plus on-site Coulomb interaction corrections (GGA+U) method is employed for the total energies and electronic structure calculations of SrTcO₃ and CaTcO₃. G-type antiferromagnetic (G-AFM) is found to be ground state for both compounds, in consistence with the previous experimental results. The mechanism of Neel temperature of SrTcO₃ being higher than that of CaTcO₃ is explored. The insulating band gaps of SrTcO₃ and CaTcO₃ are found to be 1.71 eV and 1.74 eV, respectively. The magnetic moment of Tc1 is found to be 2.237μ_B in SrTcO₃ unit cell and 2.266μ_B in CaTcO₃ unit cell. Structural parameters and electronic structure of the two compounds are examined to explore the origin of their different electrical and magnetic characters.     

Electronic structures and mechanical properties of uranium monocarbide from first-principles and calculations

The electronic structure, elastic constants, Poisson's ratio, and phonon dispersion curves of UC have been systematically investigated from the first-principles calculations by the projector-augmented-wave (PAW) method. In order to describe precisely the strong on-site Coulomb repulsion among the localized U 5f electrons, we adopt the local density approximation (LDA)+U and generalized gradient approximation (GGA)+U formalisms for the exchange correlation term. We systematically study how the electronic properties and elastic constants of UC are affected by the different choice of U as well as the exchange-correlation potential. We show that by choosing an appropriate Hubbard U parameter within the GGA+U approach, most of our calculated results are in good agreement with the experimental data. Therefore, the results obtained by the GGA+U with effective Hubbard parameter U chosen around 3 eV for UC are considered to be reasonable.     

A full potential all-electron calculation on electronic structure of NiO

We perform a first principle calculation on NiO system, a prototypical correlated electronic system due to partial filled 3d electronic shell, using various density functional theory (DFT) and hybrid functional methods inclusion of spin polarization (SP), on-site Coulomb repulsion U and spin–orbit coupling (SOC) effects. It is shown that localized spin density approximation (LSDA) plus U (LSDA?+?U) correctly reproduce experimental lattice parameter, while spin polarization generalized gradient approximation (SP?+?GGA?+?U) obviously overestimates lattice parameter. LSDA?+?U/SP?+?GGA?+?U band gaps and magnetic moments are in agreement with experimental data, and correctly predict NiO to be an insulator. NiO undergoes a Mott–Hubbard metal–insulator transition (MIT) by addition of Coulomb interaction U. Our LSDA?+?SOC calculation shows that SOC further splitting of Ni d e_g and t_2g orbitals into d_z2, d_xy, d_x2y2 and d_xz?+?d_yz orbitals, and SP nearly cancels out SOC effect, giving rise to symmetry of density of states (DOS) for spin-up and spin-down states, hence appearance of zero net magnetic moment. For LSDA?+?U?+?SOC calculation, combination effect of SP, U and SOC results in non-occupying of spin-up conduction band and a negligible density of states for spin-down states.     

A better ferrimagnetic half-metal LuCu3Mn4O12: Predicted from first-principles investigation

Electronic structure calculations based on density functional theory (DFT) within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and GGA+U for manganite cuprate compound LuCu₃Mn₄O₁₂ have been performed, using the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave method. The calculated results indicate that LuCu₃Mn₄O₁₂ is ferrimagnetic and half-metallic in both GGA and GGA+U calculations. The minority-spin band gap is 0.7 eV within GGA, which is larger than that of LaCu₃Mn₄O₁₂ (0.3 eV), indicating its better half-metallicity. Further, the minority-spin gap enlarges from 0.7 to 2.8 eV with U taken into account, and simultaneously the Fermi level being shifted to the middle of the gap, making the half-metallic energy gap to be 1.21 eV. These results demonstrate that electronic correlation effect enhances the stability of half-metallic property. These facts make this system interesting candidates for applications in spintronic devices.     

Metal-insulator transition in double cobaltites RBaCo2O5.5 (R = Eu, Gd): Specific features of their optical properties

The temperature dependence of the optical properties of GdBaCo₂O_5.5 in the region of the metal-insulator transition was studied in the spectral range λ = 4.0–0.258 μm (E = 0.3–4.8 eV) by the spectroscopic ellipsometry method. The electronic structure of the crystal at T = 300 K was calculated by the linearized muffin-tin orbital method in the local-density approximation with inclusion of on-site Coulomb interaction (LDA + U). The general features of the behavior of the optical properties of GdBaCo₂O_5.5 and EuBaCo₂O_5.5 are discussed. It is shown that the optical response on the metal side of the metal-insulator transition is determined by the redistribution of the optical-conductivity spectral weight in going from high to low energies and is significantly incoherent in character. The optical band gap width of the GdBaCo₂O_5.5 is experimentally determined to be E _g = 0.26 eV, which is close to a theoretical estimate. The type of interband transitions is determined from analyzing the temperature dependence of the optical functions for absorption bands.     

High-pressure characteristics of α-Fe2O3 using DFT+U

We have calculated the structural, magnetic and electronic properties of corundum-type α-Fe₂O₃ from first principles using density-functional theory (DFT) and the DFT?+?U method to account for correlation effects in this material. Although the correct magnetic ground state is obtained by pure DFT, the magnetic moments and the band gap are too small, and the predicted structural phase transition coupled with a transition from the insulating high-spin to a metallic low-spin phase at a pressure of 14?GPa is not observed experimentally. We find that considering the Coulomb interaction directly by including a Hubbard-like term U in the density functional greatly improves the results with respect to band gap and magnetic moments. The phase transition is shifted to higher pressures with increasing values of U and disappears for U?>?3?eV. The best overall agreement of structural, magnetic and electronic properties with experimental data is obtained for U?=?4?eV.     

后钙钛矿CaRhO3的电子结构和磁学性质的第一性原理研究

采用基于密度泛函理论的投影平面波方法,对后钙钛矿结构(Ppv)的CaRhO₃的电子结构和磁学性质进行了研究.广义梯度(GGA)近似下的计算表明,Ppv-CaRhO₃的基态为铁磁性半金属,Rh⁴⁺离子的磁矩大小为0.57μ_B,具有低自旋态构型;而考虑在位库仑作用修正的GGA+U计算,得到了与实验结果相符的反铁磁绝缘体基态,表明后钙钛矿结构中4d电子之间的关联效应对体 关键词： 电子结构 磁学性质 金属绝缘体转变     

Impact of iron composition on the calculated electronic and magnetic properties of Fe3−xNixSi

ABSTRACT

The structural, electronic and magnetic properties of Fe_3?xNi_xSi alloys with variable iron composition (0?≤?x?≤?1) have been investigated within by using Projector augmented wave (PAW) method. The exchange–correlation potential was treated with the generalised gradient approximation (GGA) for the calculation of the structural properties and for the computation of the electronic and magnetic properties in order to treat the d states. These alloys crystallize in cubic Heusler structures; The Fe₃Si and Fe₂NiSi have a regular structure DO₃ and L2₁ respectively. To describe the experimental proprieties we use the on-site Coulomb interactions of U_eff(Ni)?=?3.1?eV and U_eff(Fe)?=?3.4?eV. A good agreement between calculated and experimental magnetic moments is found for the cubic Heusler phases without the addition of Hubbard-model. The obtained results of the density of states and the spin-polarized band structure show that the Fe₂NiSi alloy has half-metallic property. Through the obtained values of the total spin magnetic moment, we conclude that in general, the Fe₂NiSi alloy is half-metallic ferromagnet material whereas the Fe₃Si alloy has a metallic nature.     

The active role played by nonmagnetic Sr in magnetostructural coupling in SrTcO3 from first principles

The total energies and structural parameters of SrTcO₃ are calculated by means of the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) plus on-site Coulomb interaction corrections (GGA+U) method. G-type antiferromagnetic (G-AFM) is found to be ground state, in consistence with the previous experimental result. The distortions around Sr and Tc upon magnetic transition are compared and the change of distortion for SrO bond upon magnetic transition is found to be 25.83 times of the change for TcO bond. Our results point to an active role played by Sr in magnetostructural coupling in SrTcO₃.     

The role of Co impurities and oxygen vacancies in the ferromagnetism of Co-doped SnO2: GGA and GGA+U studies

The electronic structure and ferromagnetic stability of Co-doped SnO₂ are studied using the first-principle density functional method within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and GGA+U schemes. The addition of effective U_Co transforms the ground state of Co-doped SnO₂ to insulating from half-metallic and the coupling between the nearest neighbor Co spins to weak antimagnetic from strong ferromagnetic. GGA+U_Co calculations show that the pure substitutional Co defects in SnO₂ cannot induce the ferromagnetism. Oxygen vacancies tend to locate near Co atoms. Their presence increases the magnetic moment of Co and induces the ferromagnetic coupling between two Co spins with large Co-Co distance. The calculated density of state and spin density distribution calculated by GGA+U_Co show that the long-range ferromagnetic coupling between two Co spins is mediated by spin-split impurity band induced by oxygen vacancies. More charge transfer from impurity to Co-3d states and larger spin split of Co-3d and impurity states induced by the addition of U_Co enhance the ferromagnetic stability of the system with oxygen vacancies. By applying a Coulomb U_O on O 2 s orbital, the band gap is corrected for all calculations and the conclusions derived from GGA+U_Co calculations are not changed by the correction of band gap.     

Theoretical study of Mn doping effects and O or Zn vacancies on the magnetic properties in wurtzite ZnO

The effects of including the exchange interaction (J) and Hubbard on-site Coulombic interaction (U) on the structural parameters and magnetic moment of Mn-doped ZnO were explored. The calculations were performed with the plane-wave pseudopotential method along with generalized-gradient approximations (GGA). Using the GGA+U + +J method by applying Hubbard corrections U_d to the Zn 3d states and U_p to the O 2p states, the lattice constants were calculated for various reported Hubbard parameters. The difference in the lattice constants between the calculated results and experimental measurements is within 1% for pure ZnO and pure MnO. This study considers three cases: (i) substitution of Mn for Zn, (ii) substitution of Mn for Zn combined with Zn vacancy, and (iii) substitution of Mn for Zn with O vacancy. Results are shown that the system is ferromagnetic (FM) when zinc vacancies are present. For three cases with oxygen vacancies, only one of them is FM. It was also found that the Hubbard U and exchange interaction J improved the calculated results, allowing it to exhibit good agreement properties for Mn-doped ZnO with the experimental data.     

Half-metallic ferromagnetic nature of the double perovskite Pb2FeMoO6 from first-principle calculations

The structural, electronic and magnetic properties of the double perovskite Pb₂FeMoO₆ have been studied by using the first-principle projector augmented wave (PAW) potential within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) as well as taking into account the on-site Coulomb repulsive interaction (GGA+U). Similar to Sr₂FeMoO₆ and Pb₂FeReO₆, the optimized crystal structure of Pb₂FeMoO₆ is a body-centered tetragonal (BCT) with the lattice constants a=b=5.60 Å and c=7.94 Å. The two axial TM?O distances are slightly larger than the four equatorial TM?O distances, which shows that the Jahn–Teller structural distortion exists in FeO₆ and MoO₆ octahedra. The half-metallic ferromagnetic nature implies a potential application of this new compound in spintronics devices. The Fe³⁺ and Mo⁵⁺ ions are in the states (3d⁵, S=5/2) and (4d¹, S=1/2) with magnetic moments 3.87 and ?0.38μ_B respectively and thus there exists an antiferromagnetic coupling via oxygen between them.