Electronic structure and optical properties of ordered compounds potassium tantalate and potassium niobate and their disordered alloys

The electronic energy band structure, site and angular momentum decomposed density of states (DOS) of cubic perovskite oxides KNbO₃ and KTaO₃ have been obtained from a first principles density functional based full potential linearized augmented plane wave (FLAPW) method within a generalized gradient approximation (GGA). The total DOS in valence region is compared with the experimental photo-emission spectra (PES). The calculated DOS is in good agreement with the experimental energy spectra and the features in the spectra are interpreted by comparison with the projected density of states (PDOS). The valence band PES is mainly composed of Nb-4d/Ta-5d and O 2p states in KNbO₃ and KTaO₃, respectively. Using the PDOS and the band structure we have analyzed the inter-band contribution to the optical properties of these materials. The real and imaginary parts of the dielectric function have been calculated and compared with experimental data. They are found to be in a reasonable agreement. The role of band structure on the optical properties have been discussed.     

First principles study of electronic structure and optical properties of CaTiO3

The electronic-energy band structure, site and angular momentum decomposed density of states (DOS) and charge-density contours of perovskite CaTiO ₃ are calculated by the first principles tight-binding linear muffin-tin orbitals method with atomic sphere approximation using density functional theory in its local density approximation. The calculated band structure shows an indirect (R-Γ) band gap of 1.5 eV. The total DOS as well as the partial density of states (PDOS) are compared with the experimental photoemission spectra. The calculated DOS are in reasonable agreement with the experimental energy spectra and the features in the spectra are interpreted by a comparison of the spectra with the PDOS. The origin of the various experimentally observed bands have been explained. From the DOS analysis, as well as charge-density studies, we conclude that the bonding between Ca and TiO ₃ is mainly ionic and that the TiO ₃ entities bond covalently. Using the projected DOS and band structure we have analyzed the interband contribution to the optical properties of CaTiO ₃ . The real and imaginary parts of the dielectric function and hence the optical constants such as refractive index and extinction coefficient are calculated. The calculated spectra are compared with the experimental results for CaTiO ₃ and are found to be in good agreement with the experimental results. The effective number of electrons per unit cell participating in the interband transitions are calculated. The role of band structure calculation as regards the optical properties of CaTiO ₃ is discussed. Received 1 February 2000 and Received in final form 21 July 2000     

An ab initio study of the structural,elastic, electronic and optical properties of the newly synthesized nitridoaluminate LiCaAlN2

The structural parameters, elastic constants, electronic structure and optical properties of the recently reported monoclinic quaternary nitridoaluminate LiCaAlN₂ are investigated in detail using the ab initio plane-wave pseudopotential method within the generalized gradient approximation. The calculated equilibrium structural parameters are in excellent agreement with the experimental data, which validate the reliability of the applied theoretical method. The chemical and structural stabilities of LiCaAlN₂ are confirmed by calculating the cohesion energy and enthalpy of formation. Chemical band stiffness is calculated to explain the pressure dependence of the lattice parameters. Through the band structure calculation, LiCaAlN₂ is predicted to be an indirect band gap of 2.725 eV. The charge-carrier effective masses are estimated from the band structure dispersions. The frequency-dependent dielectric function, absorption coefficient, refractive index, extinction coefficient, reflectivity coefficient and electron energy loss function spectra are calculated for polarized incident light in a wide energy range. Optical spectra exhibit a noticeable anisotropy. Single-crystal and polycrystalline elastic constants and related properties, including isotropic sound velocities and Debye temperatures, are numerically estimated. The calculated elastic constants and elastic compliances are used to analyse and visualize the elastic anisotropy of LiCaAlN₂. The calculated elastic constants demonstrate the mechanical stability and brittle behaviour of the considered material.     

Optical properties and electronic structure of YNi<Subscript>5 − <Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Cu<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript> intermetallic compounds

The optical properties of hexagonal intermetallic compounds YNi_{5 − x} Cu _x (x = 0, 1, 2) have been investigated by ellipsometry in the spectral range of 0.22–15 μm. It is shown that the replacement of nickel atoms by copper atoms leads to local changes in the optical-conductivity spectra. A new absorption band is found at 3.5–4.5 eV; its intensity depends on the copper content. The plasma and relaxation frequencies of conduction electrons are determined. The electronic structure and interband optical conductivity of these compounds are calculated within the electron density functional theory using the pseudopotential method. The main parameters of the band structure and the total and partial densities of electronic states are determined. Qualitative agreement is obtained between the experimental and theoretical frequency dependences of the optical conductivity.     

LiB6Si: An indirect band gap semiconductor

Using first-principle calculations, mechanical properties, electronic structure, and Raman spectra of LiB₆Si structure were investigated. The band structures calculated by GGA-PBE and HSE06 methods reveal that LiB₆Si is an indirect band gap semiconductor. The band gap estimated by HSE06 method is about 2.24 eV, which is in good agreement with that of experimental value 2.27 eV. The calculated tensile stress-strain curves of LiB₆Si reveal that [010] direction is the cleavage direction under tensile strains. The calculated Raman spectra of LiB₆Si are also in good agreement with that of measured. The position of the band gap may provide a basis for further photocatalysis research on LiB₆Si.     

X-ray absorption spectra: K-edges of 3d transition metals,L-edges of 3d and 4d metals,and M-edges of palladium

The X-ray absorption spectra of the 3d and 4d transition metals have been calculated within the single-particle approximation by a new linearized augmented plane wave method. The spectra, calculated with sharp atomic and band-structure single-particle levels, have been convoluted with a Lorentzian broadening function whose width is the sum of that of the core hole and the excited electrons. Plots are shown for (i) the K-edge fine structures up to at least 100 eV above the edge for Ca, Ti, Cr, Co, Cu, and Zn, (ii) the L_{2, 3} white lines for Ca, Ti, Cr, Co, and Cu, (iii) the L₃ white lines for Sr, Zr, Nb, Ru, Rh, and Pd, and (iv) the M_{2, 3} and M_4,5 spectrum of Pd. Systematic features which depend on the crystal structure and the placement of the Fermi level with conduction band are briefly discussed.     

First-principles study of the optical properties of PbFX (X = Cl,Br, I) compounds in its matlockite-type structure

We present the results of the ab initio theoretical study of the optical properties for PbFX (X = Cl, Br, I) compounds in its matlockite-type structure using the full potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method as implemented in the WIEN2K code. We employed generalized gradient approximation (GGA), which is based on exchange-correlation energy optimization to calculate the total energy. Also we have used the Engel-Vosko GGA formalism, which optimizes the corresponding potential for band structure calculations. Our calculations show that the valence band maximum (VBM) and conduction band minimum (CBM) are located at Z resulting in a direct energy gap. We present calculations of the frequency-dependent complex dielectric function ε( ω) and its zero-frequency limit ε₁ ( 0 ). We find that the values of ε₁ ( 0 ) increases with decreasing the energy gap. The reflectivity spectra and absorption coefficient has been calculated and compared with the available experimental data. The optical properties are analyzed and the origin of some of the peaks in the spectra is discussed in terms of the calculated electronic structure.     

Phenyl substituted Mg porphyrazines: The effect of annulation of a chalcogen-containing heterocycle on the spectral-luminescent properties

We have performed complex experimental and theoretical investigations of the spectral-luminescent properties and electronic structure of new phthalocyanine analogs, Mg octaphenylporphyrazine and its derivatives with an annulated thiadiazole or selenadiazole ring instead of two phenyl groups. Fluorescence characteristics have been determined at 293 and 77 K: emission, excitation, and fluorescence polarization spectra; fluorescence quantum yield ?? _F , and lifetime ?? _F . Annulation of a five-membered chalcogen-containing heterocycle leads to splitting of the long-wavelength absorption band Q(0-0) and to the bathochromic shift of its longest wavelength component Q _x (0-0), which increase upon passage from S to Se. At the same time, the fluorescence quantum yield ?? _F and lifetime ?? _F decrease, which is related to the intramolecular heavy-atom effect. The geometric structure of the ground state of the Mg porphyrazine molecules has been determined based on the density functional theory (DFT), and excited electronic states have been calculated with modified parametrization of the INDO/S method, INDO/Sm. Semiquantitatively, the calculated level positions of the lowest Q states and spectral shifts of Mg octaphenylporphyrazine and S-derivative agree with experimental data. For the range of the Soret band, calculated transition energies and their intensity distributions substantially depend on the dihedral angle ?? between a phenyl ring and porphyrazine macrocycle. We show that, based on calculations at the angle ?? = 60°, bands in the observed absorption spectra can be assigned with an accuracy of ??2000 cm^?1.     

X-ray emission spectra and chemical bonding in TiC,TiN and TiO

The experimental X-ray emission spectra of titanium carbide, nitride and oxide have been obtained. Quantum-chemical calculations of the electronic structure of clusters in TiC, TiN and TiO have been carried out by the semiempirical Mulliken-Wolfsberg-Helmholtz method with self-consistency on charges and configurations. The results of these calculations are in good agreement with the X-ray spectroscopy data and offer a reasonable explanation of the experimental spectra. Chemical bonding and electronic structure of the compounds are discussed. Ionicity is shown to increase from TiC to TiO according to the electronegativity principle, the calculated charges on the metal ions being close to experimental estimates. The role of metal-metal and metal-nonmetal interactions in the chemical bonding is analysed. Vacancy models for TiO and their effect on the X-ray emission spectra are investigated. By the CNDO method with configurational interactions the optical spectrum of titanium carbide has been calculated. It is shown that this spectrum may be interpreted from the results for the [TiC₆] cluster, without introducing the Lye-Logothetis band scheme with negative charge on the metal ion.     

First-principles calculations of structural, electronic, optical and elastic properties of magnesite MgCO3 and calcite CaCO3

Detailed ab initio calculations of the structural, electronic, optical and elastic properties of two crystals - magnesite (MgCO₃) and calcite (CaCO₃) - are reported in the present paper. Both compounds are important natural minerals, playing an important role in the carbon dioxide cycling. The optimized crystal structures, band gaps, density of states diagrams, elastic constants, optical absorption spectra and refractive indexes dependence on the wavelength all have been calculated and compared, when available, with literature data. Both crystals are indirect band compounds, with calculated band gaps of 5.08 eV for MgCO₃ and 5.023 eV for CaCO₃. Both values are underestimated by approximately 1.0 eV with respect to the experimental data. Although both crystals have the same structure, substitution of Mg by Ca ions leads to certain differences, which manifest themselves in noticeable change in the electronic bands profiles and widths, shape of the calculated absorption spectra, and values of the elastic constants. Response of both crystals to the applied hydrostatic pressure was analyzed in the pressure range of phase stability, variations of the lattice parameters and characteristic interionic distances were considered. The obtained dependencies of lattice constants and calculated band gap on pressure can be used for prediction of properties of these two hosts at elevated pressures that occur in the Earth's mantle.     

Angular distribution of the photoelectron spectrum of CO2, COS,CS2, N2O,H2O,and H2S

The photoelectron spectra of the triatomic molecules CO₂, COS, CS₂, N₂O, H₂O, and H₂S have been measured as a function of the angle θ between the direction of the incoming photon and outgoing photoelectron. The photoelectron spectra have been measured with a double-focusing electrostatic electron spectrometer to which has been attached a chamber containing a gas discharge lamp that can be freely rotated. (The photon source used was the 21.22 eV He I resonance line). From the dependence of intensity as a function of θ the angular parameter β was determined for each ionization band observed in the photoelectron spectra. A correlation was noted between the values of β and the molecular orbitals relative to the contributions of oxygen and sulfur atomic orbitals. Individual β values were also obtained for most of the vibrational bands seen in the photoelectron spectra. In most cases the vibrational structure showed little or no change in the angular parameter for a given electronic state. In certain cases, however, such as the fourth ionization band in CS₂, CO₂, and COS, rather sizeable changes in β were observed for the different vibrational bands.     

The electronic structure of ZrSe32

The energy bands of the semiconductor ZrSe₃ have been evaluated using the KKR method. The general features of the electronic structure are expected to pertain to other transition metal trichalcogenides which have similar trigonal prismatic coordination. The calculated density of states agrees well with X-ray photoemission spectra for the valence band. The joint density of states has been evaluated and is discussed in terms of optical measurements.     

Optical properties of the alkaline-earth fluorohalides matlockite-type structure SrFX (X=Cl, Br, I) compounds

The optical properties of the SrFX (X=Cl, Br, I) compound have been reported using the full potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method as implemented in the WIEN2K code. We employed the generalized gradient approximation (GGA), which is based on exchange-correlation energy optimization to calculate the total energy. Also we have used the Engel-Vosko GGA formalism, which optimizes the corresponding potential for band structure calculations. Our calculations show that the valence band maximum (VBM) and conduction band minimum (CBM) are located at Γ resulting in a direct energy gap. We present calculations of the frequency-dependent complex dielectric function ε(ω) and its zero-frequency limit ε₁(0). We find that the value of ε₁(0) increases on decreasing the energy gap. The reflectivity spectra and absorption coefficient have been calculated and compared with the available experimental data.     

Electronic band structure, optical absorption, and photocatalytic activity of iron-doped anatase

Quasi-one-dimensional solid solutions of the composition Ti_{1 ? x} Fe _x O_{2 ? x/2} (0.005 ≤ x ≤ 0.050) with the anatase-type structure and extended aggregates have been prepared by the precursor method. The absorption spectra of the solid solutions have been investigated in the ultraviolet and visible regions, and the photocatalytic activity in the oxidation reaction of hydroquinone in water has been estimated. It has been found that the synthesized solid solutions serve as photocatalysts only under ultraviolet irradiation, and their photoactivity increases with an increase in the dopant concentration. The first-principles calculations of the electronic band structure and optical absorption in iron-doped anatase and rutile have been performed using the pseudopotential method LSDA + U (with the VASP software package). The on-site exchange-correlation parameters have been calibrated in the calculations of the electronic band structure of hematite α-Fe₂O₃ and ilmenite FeTiO₃. It has been shown that, despite the appearance of impurity states within the band gap of anatase and rutile, doping with iron does not cause substantial absorption in the visible region, which correlates with the increase in photocatalytic activity only under ultraviolet irradiation. The most probable cause of the experimentally observed absorption in the visible region is the presence of finely dispersed hematite impurities in the obtained samples.     

Ab initio calculations study of the electronic, optical and thermodynamic properties of NaMgH3, for hydrogen storage

The structural stability, electronic structure, optical and thermodynamic properties of NaMgH₃ have been investigated using the density functional theory. Good agreement is obtained for the bulk crystal structure using both the local density approximation (LDA) and the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) for the exchange-correlation energy. It is found from the electronic density of states (DOS) that the valence band is dominated by the hydrogen atoms while the conduction band is dominated by Na and Mg empty states. Also, the DOS reveals that NaMgH₃ is a large gap insulator with direct band gap 3.4 eV. We have investigated the optical response of NaMgH₃ in partial band to band contributions and the theoretical optical spectrum is presented and discussed in this study. Optical response calculation suggests that the imaginary part of dielectric function spectra is assigned to be the interband transition. The formation energy for NaMgH₃ is investigated along different reaction pathways. We compare and discuss our result with the measured and calculated enthalpies of formation found in the literature.     

Mechanical,electronic and optical properties of SeZnO3: a GGA+U study

ABSTRACT

Based on first principles computations, the structural, mechanical, electronic band structure, and optical properties of SeZnO₃ compound have been predicted. The dependence of selected observables of SeZnO₃ compound on the effective U (the Hubbard on-site Coulomb repulsion) parameter has been investigated in detail. The elastic constant, Young’s modulus, bulk modulus, shear modulus, Poisson ratio, anisotropic factor, acoustic velocity, and Debye temperature have been computed. The calculated electronic band structure and density of states indicate that SeZnO₃ is a semiconductor material and has indirect band gap. The computations of the optical spectra, as a function of the incident photon radiation in 0–35?eV energy range has also been performed and the interband transitions are examined. The results indicate that Hubbard parameter plays a crucial role in explaining mechanical, electronic, and optical properties of SeZnO₃.     

Comparison of band model and integrated line-by-line synthetic spectra for methane in the 2.3 μm region

The 2.3 μm spectral region of methane can be used to retrieve cloud properties of planetary spectra, provided parameters for the methane spectrum are known. Two standard techniques for calculating absorption spectra in this region are compared here. A Voigt profile Mayer-Goody random band model is applied, using coefficients empirically fitted by Fink et al. to CH₄ spectra recorded with high absorping amounts at 10 cm^?1 resolution. Calculation of the absorption is also done with a line-by-line direct integration method for the same gas conditions using molecular parameters obtained by combining an older unpublished list of observed positions and estimated line strengths (derived from 0.04 cm^?1 resolution data) with quantum assignments from the literature. The molecular parameters have been evaluated for the 4180–4590 cm^?1 region by comparing new laboratory spectra with 0.01 cm^?1 resolution recorded at 296 and 153K with synthetic spectra calculated at the same conditions. The deficiencies of the molecular parameters and random band coefficients for this spectral region of CH₄ are then discussed qualitatively and demonstrated by comparing 10 cm^?1 resolution synthetic spectra calculated by both methods for the same gas conditions at 296, 153, and 55 K.Curves of growth of the total equivalent width are calculated at 296 and 55K for a pathlength of 50 cm and pressures up to 10 atm. Changing the mean line spacing in the band model gives better agreement between the spectra calculated by the two techniques at low gas temperatures. The required multiplier has been determined for the mean line spacing for pressures from 10^?6 to 10^?1 atm at 55, 100, and 150 K.     

Band-edge emission in CuI single crystals

The photoluminescence spectra of CuI single crystals have been studied at T = 4.2 K and at various excitation levels. The emission band of donor-acceptor pairs (DAP) with a maximum at about 4200 Å has been shown to possess a complex structure. Theoretical analyses and exciton spectroscopy data make it possible to calculate the ionization energies for the donors and acceptors participating in the formation of DAP, which are equal to E_D = = 0.045?0.065 eV and E_A = 0.155?0.170 eV, respectively. The fine structure of emission due to the annihilation of excitons bound on acceptor pairs (band maximum 4075 Å) has been detected and calculated. The energy of the longitudinal optical phonon participating in the exciton-phonon interaction (LO ? 18.7 meV) has been determined.     

Valence band photoemission study of the copper chalcogenide compounds, Cu2S, Cu2Se and Cu2Te

The electronic structures of the copper chalcogenide compounds, Cu₂S, Cu₂Se and Cu₂Te have been investigated by taking photoemission data with synchrotron photon sources. The band calculations are done using the full-potential linear-muffin-tin-orbital method. Since the crystal structures are not clarified well, several simplified structure models are used. The calculated densities of states are compared with the observed spectra. The analysis shows that a sharp peak at −3.5 eV is due to the Cu 3d states, and that the tails at the high and low energy sides of the Cu 3d peak are due to the chalcogen p states.