Souvatzis, Petros | Search NASA

DOE OSTI2015

Lattice dynamics and chemical bonding in Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3} from first-principles calculations

Pressure effects on the lattice dynamics and the chemical bonding of the three-dimensional topological insulator, Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3}, have been studied from a first-principles perspective in its rhombohedral phase. Where it is possible to compare, theory agrees with most of the measured phonon dispersions. We find that the inclusion of relativistic effects, in terms of the spin-orbit interaction, affects the vibrational features to some extend and creates large fluctuations on phonon density of state in high frequency zone. By investigations of structure and electronic structure, we analyze in detail the semiconductor to metal transition at ∼2 GPa followed by an electronic topological transition at a pressure of ∼4.25 GPa.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

DOE OSTI2014

First principles molecular dynamics without self-consistent field optimization

We present a first principles molecular dynamics approach that is based on time-reversible extended Lagrangian Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics [A. M. N. Niklasson, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 123004 (2008)] in the limit of vanishing self-consistent field optimization. The optimization-free dynamics keeps the computational cost to a minimum and typically provides molecular trajectories that closely follow the exact Born-Oppenheimer potential energy surface. Only one single diagonalization and Hamiltonian (or Fockian) construction are required in each integration time step. The proposed dynamics is derived for a general free-energy potential surface valid at finite electronic temperatures within hybrid density functional theory. Even in the event of irregular functional behavior that may cause a dynamical instability, the optimization-free limit represents a natural starting guess for force calculations that may require a more elaborate iterative electronic ground state optimization. Our optimization-free dynamics thus represents a flexible theoretical framework for a broad and general class of ab initio molecular dynamics simulations.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗