First-principles calculations of contact effect on quantum transport in carbon nanotubes

We report first-principles calculations of conductance of carbon nanotubes between metallic electrodes. The electronic states are calculated using a numerical atomic orbital basis set in the framework of the density functional theory, and the conductance is calculated using the Green's function method. We show transmission spectra of carbon nanotubes connected to electrodes and reveal the contact effect of electrodes on the transport properties of nanotubes.     

全相对论多组态原子结构及物理量的精密计算——构建准完备基以及组态相互作用

从第一原理出发计算原子结构有多种理论方法,它们都是基于变分原理的,其关键是构建一组最适合描述真实物理体系的且适用于变分原理的准完备基.本文阐明了如何利用全相对论计算程序GRASPVU,通过单组态Dirac-Fock计算以及多组态Dirac-Fock自洽场计算建立准完备基.然后利用该准完备基进行组态相互作用计算以充分考虑关联作用;在此基础上,进一步考虑电磁相互作用的延迟效应和量子电动力学等修正.该准完备基对原子结构和电磁跃迁等物理量可进行精密的理论计算.最简单的He体系的能级和跃迁速率等物理量的计算值与目前最准确的理论计算值以及精密的实验测量值符合很好,验证了本文提出的方案的适用性.本文计算是全相对论的,可推广到相对论效应很重要的高Z类He体系,以面向重离子储存环相关实验测量.同时该方案也适用于其他任何多电子原子体系;对Mg进行了精密理论计算,阐明了其33D,43D精细结构次序变化的机理.     

Piezoelectric coefficients of complex semiconductor alloys from first-principles: the case of Ga(1- x)In(x)N

A first-principles-derived scheme is developed to compute the piezoelectric coefficients e(i j) of semiconductor alloys. This method is applied to study the effect of atomic arrangement and composition on e(33 ) in wurtzite Ga (1- x)In xN. Results obtained by this method for ordered structures are in good agreement with direct first-principles calculations. We predict that atomic ordering can have a large effect on piezoelectricity and that e(33 ) of disordered materials is nearly linear with composition. Microscopic origins for these features are revealed.     

Gaussian basis sets of triple and quadruple zeta valence quality for correlated wave functions

Contracted basis sets of triple and quadruple zeta (TZ and QZ, respectively) valence quality for the atoms from H to Ar are presented. They have been determined from fully-optimized basis sets of primitive Gaussian-type functions generated in atomic Hartree–Fock (HF) calculations. Sets of Gaussian polarization functions optimized at the Møller–Plesset second-order (MP2) level were added to the TZ and QZ basis sets. This extends earlier work on segmented contracted double zeta valence basis sets. The performance of the basis sets are assessed in molecular HF and MP2 calculations for a sample of diatomic molecules by a comparison of energies, dissociation energies, and dipole moments with results obtained numerically or using basis sets reported in the literature. By fitting the directly calculated values through two extrapolation schemes, estimates of the complete basis set limit for second order correlation energy have been obtained. In addition, results for MP2-R12/A calculations to establish the basis set convergence for the standard calculations are also presented.     

Direct method for optimized effective potentials in density-functional theory

The conventional optimized effective potential method is based on a difficult-to-solve integral equation. In the new method, this potential is constructed as a sum of a fixed potential and a linear combination of basis functions. The energy derivatives with respect to the coefficients of the linear combination are obtained. This enables calculations by optimization methods. Accurate atomic and molecular calculations with Gaussian basis sets are presented for exact exchange functionals. This efficient and accurate method for the optimized effective potential should play an important role in the development and application of density functionals.     

(Zn,Al)O电子结构第一性原理计算及电导率的分析

采用第一性原理平面波赝势方法和广义梯度近似计算了ZnO与(Zn,Al)O的电子结构.结合分子轨道理论,从原子布居、键布居、能带结构和态密度角度分析了掺Al前后ZnO的成键情况及对电子间相互作用的影响.利用第一性原理计算结果理论推导计算了(Zn,Al)O的载流子浓度并进一步分析了ZnO电导率的变化情况.与实验结果比较可知,掺Al后ZnO载流子浓度增加,并且ZnO的电导率比未掺杂时有了显著的提高. 关键词： 第一性原理 电子结构 电导率 (Zn Al)O     

Systematic generation of relativistic gaussian basis sets

A method for the Gaussian basis set generation for molecular relativistic Dirac-Fock calculations is proposed. The basis set exponents are obtained in the process of stochastic optimization (a hybrid of simplex and simulated annealing optimization techniques has been employed) of a functional defined as the sum of squares of differences between the numerical relativistic atomic wave functions and the wave functions obtained using the Gaussian function expansion. After this pre-optimization step the exponents are refined by ordinary gradient energy-functional based procedure. The present method seems to be very effective and robust. As an example the optimized basis sets of atoms from H (Z=1) to Ar (Z=18) are presented. Results of the Dirac-Fock calculations for all atoms under study are presented and compared with the numerical Dirac-Fock results and results obtained using the Gaussian basis sets according to Okada et al.: J. Chem. Phys.93 (1990) 5013. Slovak Grant Agency has funded the work reported in this paper, project No. 1/4205/98.     

Carbon-atom wires: charge-transfer doping, voltage drop, and the effect of distortions

We present first-principles calculations on electrical conduction through carbon atomic wires. The changes in charge distribution induced by a large bias exhibit the primary involvement of the wire's pi states. A significant fraction ( approximately 40%) of the voltage drops across the atomic wire itself. At zero bias, there is a large transfer of charge from the electrodes to the wire, effectively providing doping without introducing scattering centers. This transfer leads, however, to potential barriers at the wire-electrode junctions. Bending the wire reduces its conductance.     

Extended embedded-atom method for platinum nanoparticles

We present a new technique to extend the embedded-atom method (EAM) for the simulations of non-bulk systems down to the atomic cluster level. To overcome the limitation of the traditional bulk-fit EAM interatomic potentials, bond characteristics from first-principles calculations are systematically included by introducing a local structure dependent prefactor with three additional parameters to the conventional EAM many-body term. The additional parameters improve the local potential landscape virtually for the entire range of atomic configuration space in a quantitative sense. The proposed scheme is applied to two different EAM function sets and validated for both bulk and non-bulk environments in elemental platinum. The obtained material properties, including the binding energies of Pt particles and the Pt adatom diffusion barrier on the Pt(1 1 1) surface, show a significant improvement over the conventional EAM formalism.     

Optimum atomic orbitals for molecular calculations A review

This review is intended to give a broad outline of the many techniques used in the calculation of atomic structure and the methods of using the information gained from this work in molecular calculations. Consequently, no topic is considered in full depth and only selected examples from the literature are used to illustrate the main points. Extensive tabulatios of atomic and molecular properties are already available in the literature, and these serve as additional sources of examples. Only methods within the Hartree-Fock framework, where a single Slater determinant (or in some cases a linear combination of Slater determinants) and the variation principle form the basis of the model, are considered in detail. Extensions of the independent particle model to include correlation have been considered briefly and smaller corrections, such as magnetic and relativistic effects are omitted.

We describe, in the first part of the review, the partical requirements of the functional form of the basis set and consider examples of the types of functions available in the literature. These include exponential- and Gaussian type-functions and many others. For' chemical accuracy' the total energy of the electronic system should be estimated to within one kilocalorie or better, requiring at least Hartree-Fock accuracy for the isolated atoms and optimization or augmentation of the bases in the molecule. Smaller, less accurate basis sets for the atoms are still useful, however, in the prediction of certain atomic and molecular properties, and in supplying simple orbital pictures of interest to chemists, although producing poorer representations of the total wave function.

In order to produce good wave functions there are certain criteria that they may satisfy. These, when coupled with the independent particle model, produce many methods of obtaining wave functions of varying accuracy depending in the size and type of functions comprising the basis set. Some of the criteria considered include the minimal energy principle, the best approximation to operators other than the Hamiltonian and other less known, and perhaps less practical, methods.

The quality of the atomic wave functions, produced from Hartree-Fock equations, using different types of basis functions, may be investigated with the aid of many operators, and in particular the position operators, <rⁿ >, and tested in the prediction of such quantities as the electron-electron interaction operators. The atomic <rⁿ > values are extremely useful in choosing a basis for the calculation of a particular molecular property that depends heavily on the same region of space.

In order to allow for the polarization of an atom in a molecular environment, and hence achieve better molecular properties, one may either reoptimize or augment the existing basis. If large basis sets are used initially for the atom, then they may be contracted without appreciable loss of ‘chemical accuracy’ before being used in the molecular calculations. These points are illustrated, using different basis sets produced by several methods, for the molecules HF, H₂O, NH₃ and HCN. Rules for orbital exponents (non-linear parameters of the basis set) for atoms and molecules are also discussed.     

Ab-initio study of phase transition and momentum density in PbTe

In this article, the high-pressure structural phase transition and electron momentum density in PbTe have been studied by means of first-principles total energy calculations which are based on the linear combination of atomic orbitals method within generalized gradient approximation. It is observed that the stable phase of PbTe is rocksalt (B1) type and it transforms to an orthorhombic Pnma (B27, FeB type) structure at 6.77?GPa. Further, structural phase transition from the Pnma phase to the cesium chloride (B2) phase has been observed at 13.04?GPa. The anisotropies in theoretical directional Compton profiles indicate larger occupied states along the [100] direction. On the basis of equal-valence-electron-density profiles, it is found that PbTe shows less ionicity as compared to PbS and PbSe.     

Layer spacings in coherently strained epitaxial metal films

Laterally resolved measurements of the quantum size effect (QSE) in electron reflectivity are made with low energy electron microscopy on coherently strained Ag films on a W(110) surface. The evolution of the total film thickness with increasing number of atomic layers is determined accurately by dynamical theory analysis of the QSE features. Combined with a model of layer spacings obtained from first-principles calculations, this provides for a novel approach to determine the buried interface layer spacing, which is inaccessible to other methods.     

Self-consistent Shaw optimized model potential: Application to the determination of structural and atomic transport properties of liquid alkali metals by molecular dynamics simulations

The ‘first-principles’ fully non-local and energy-dependent optimized model potential (OMP) derived by Shaw is developed further. In contrast to Shaw's original paper, OMP parameters are derived in a self-consistent manner that does not rely on knowledge of experimental values of the ionization and cohesive energies. To our knowledge, this is the first time that this method has been used for effective potential calculations. In an application to liquid Li, Na, and K alkali metals, we used OMP pseudopotential-based interactions between ions to carry out standard molecular dynamics simulations. In the calculations, the ionic structure for the liquid state was first checked at a temperature near the melting point. Similar accurate calculations, but for atomic transport properties, predict the temperature dependence of the self-diffusion coefficients. The theoretical results obtained are in overall agreement with available experimental measurements. Thus, one can have some confidence in the ability of the optimized model potential to give a good representation of the physical properties of these alkali ions in the liquid environment.     

Ab initio calculations of transport properties of atomic bridges by the recursion-transfer-matrix method

We present an efficient self-consistent method for approaching quantum transport through atomic-scale structures. Using the recursion-transfer-matrix (RTM) method with a separable form of nonlocal pseudopotentials, scattering waves propagating between metallic electrodes through nano-bridged structures are efficiently calculated on the basis of the density-functional formalism. We performed calculations with this method of the conductance of Al atomic wires with various kinds of single atoms mixed at the contact to one electrode. We found that the transport properties are considerably affected by the bonding nature of the atom at the contact. The conductance is largely determined by the atomic species at the contact and does not change much as the length of the atomic wire increases.     

Electronic structure of silicene

In this topical review, we discuss the electronic structure of free-standing silicene by comparing results obtained using different theoretical methods. Silicene is a single atomic layer of silicon similar to graphene. The interest in silicene is the same as for graphene, in being two-dimensional and possessing a Dirac cone. One advantage of silicene is due to its compatibility with current silicon electronics. Both empirical and first-principles techniques have been used to study the electronic properties of silicene. We will provide a brief overview of the parameter space for first-principles calculations.However, since the theory is standard, no extensive discussion will be included. Instead, we will emphasize what empirical methods can provide to such investigations and the current state of these theories. Finally, we will review the properties computed using both types of theories for free-standing silicene, with emphasis on areas where we have contributed.Comparisons to graphene is provided throughout.     

CNDO/2 and INDO all-valence-electron calculations on the dipole moment of iodine compounds

An application of the semi-empirical CNDO/2 and INDO methods to calculate the molecular dipole moment of iodine compounds has been made with all-valence electron scheme. Equilibrium geometries are obtained using experimental bond lengths and the various semi-empirical parameters required inscf-mo scheme are obtained from atomic Hartree-Fock calculations and by comparison withab initio calculations. Bothsp andspd valence basis sets are used.     

Molecular properties with dual basis set methods

The dual basis set approach has proven to be very successful for accurately estimating total energies with large basis sets. This study extends the applications of this technique to the calculation of molecular properties, including energy derivatives with respect to nuclear positions and to an external electric field. All energy derivatives have been calculated numerically via finite-differences. Molecular gradients and Hessians as well as dipole moments and polarizabilites have been calculated at the HF and MP2 levels using two alternative versions of the dual basis set method. The accuracy of these approaches is discussed in the context of quality of basis sets used in calculations. It is shown that even quite poor results obtained with the 6-311G basis set are significantly improved in dual basis set calculations with the 6-311G(d,p) and 6-311G(3df,3dp) basis sets.     

Two-dimensional XSe_2(X = Mn,V) based magnetic tunneling junctions with high Curie temperature

Two-dimensional(2D) magnetic crystals have attracted great attention due to their emerging new physical phenomena. They provide ideal platforms to study the fundamental physics of magnetism in low dimensions. In this research,magnetic tunneling junctions(MTJs) based on X Se_2(X = Mn, V) with room-temperature ferromagnetism were studied using first-principles calculations. A large tunneling magnetoresistance(TMR) of 725.07% was obtained in the MTJs based on monolayer MnSe_2. Several schemes were proposed to improve the TMR of these devices. Moreover, the results of our non-equilibrium transport calculations showed that the large TMR was maintained in these devices under a finite bias.The transmission spectrum was analyzed according to the orbital components and the electronic structure of the monolayer X Se_2(X = Mn, V). The results in this paper demonstrated that the MTJs based on a 2D ferromagnet with room-temperature ferromagnetism exhibited reliable performance. Therefore, such devices show the possibility for potential applications in spintronics.     

Theoretical study on the positron annihilation in Rocksalt structured magnesium oxide

Based on the atomic superposition approximation(ATSUP) and first-principles pseudopotential plane-wave methods,the bulk and Mg mono-vacancy positron lifetime of magnesium oxide were calculated using Arponen-Pajamme and Boron’ski-Nieminen positron-annihilation-rate interpolation formula respectively.The calculated values are in good agreement with experimental values and the first-principles method gives more convincing results.The positron annihilation density spectra analysis reveals that positrons mainly annihilate with valence electrons of oxygen atoms when the magnesium-vacancy appears within magnesium oxide.