Dielectric screening in doped Fullerides

For conventional superconductors the electron-electron interaction is strongly reduced by retardation effects, making the formation of Cooper pairs possible. In the alkali-doped Fullerides, however, there are no strong retardation effects. But dielectric screening can reduce the electron-electron interaction sufficiently, if we assume that the random-phase approximation (RPA) is valid. It is not clear, however, if this assumption holds, since the alkali-doped Fullerides are strongly correlated systems close to a Mott transition. To test the validity of the RPA for these systems we have calculated the screening of a test charge using quantum Monte Carlo.Comment: 4 pages, 1 eps figure included; to be published in the proceedings of the International Winterschool on Electronic Properties of Novel Materials, Kirchberg/Tirol, 1998; additional information is available at http://www.mpi-stuttgart.mpg.de/docs/ANDERSEN/fullerene

Metal-Insulator transitions in generalized Hubbard models

We study the Mott transition in Hubbard models with a degenerate band on different 3-dimensional lattices. While for a non-degenerate band only the half-filled system may exhibit a Mott transition, with degeneracy there can be a transition for any integer filling. We analyze the filling dependence of the Mott transition and find that $U_c$ (the Hubbard interaction $U$ at which the transition takes place) decreases away from half-filling. In addition we can change the lattice structure of the model. This allows us to study the influence of frustration on the Mott transition. We find that frustration increases $U_c$, compared to bipartite systems. The results were obtained from fixed-node diffusion Monte Carlo calculations using trial functions which allow us to systematically vary the magnetic character of the system. To gain a qualitative understanding of the results, we have developed simple hopping arguments that help to rationalize the doping dependence and the influence of frustration on the Mott transition. Choosing the model parameters to describe the doped Fullerides, we can make contact with experiment and understand why some of the Fullerides are metals, while others, which according to density functional theory should also be metallic, actually are insulators.Comment: 4 pages LaTeX with 4 eps figures; submitted to Computer Physics Communications, Proceedings of the CPP'99/Centennial Meeting, Atlanta, GA; additional material available at http://www.mpi-stuttgart.mpg.de/docs/ANDERSEN/fullerene

Filling dependence of the Mott transition in the degenerate Hubbard model

Describing the doped Fullerenes using a generalized Hubbard model, we study the Mott transition for different integer fillings of the t_1u band. We use the opening of the energy-gap E_g as a criterion for the transition. E_g is calculated as a function of the on-site Coulomb interaction U using fixed-node diffusion Monte Carlo. We find that for systems with doping away from half-filling the Mott transitions occurs at smaller U than for the half-filled system. We give a simple model for the doping dependence of the Mott transition.Comment: 7 pages RevTeX with 10 eps figures, additional material available at http://www.mpi-stuttgart.mpg.de/docs/ANDERSEN/fullerene

The effect of atomic oxygen on polysiloxane-polyimide for spacecraft applications in low Earth orbit

Polysiloxane-polyimide films are of interest as a replacement for polyimide Kapton in the Space Station Freedom solar array blanket. The blanket provides the structural support for the solar cells as well as providing transport of heat away from the back of the cells. Polyimide Kapton would be an ideal material to use; however, its high rate of degradation due to attack by atomic oxygen in low Earth orbit, at the altitudes Space Station Freedom will fly, is of such magnitude that if left unprotected, the blanket will undergo structural failure in much less than the desired 15 year operating life. Polysiloxane-polyimide is of interest as a replacement material because it should from its own protective silicon dioxide coating upon exposure to atomic oxygen. Mass, optical, and photomicrographic data obtained in the evaluation of the durability of polysiloxane-polyimide to an atomic oxygen environment are presented

Full-Potential LMTO: Total Energy and Force Calculations

The essential features of a full potential electronic structure method using Linear Muffin-Tin Orbitals (LMTOs) are presented. The electron density and potential in the this method are represented with no inherent geometrical approximation. This method allows the calculation of total energies and forces with arbitrary accuracy while sacrificing much of the efficiency and physical content of approximate methods such as the LMTO-ASA method.Comment: 25 pages, 2 figures, Workshop on the TB-LMTO method, Monastery of Mont St. Odile, October 4-5, 199

Electronic entanglement in late transition metal oxides

Here we present a study of the entanglement in the electronic structure of the late transition metal monoxides - MnO, FeO, CoO, and NiO - obtained by means of density-functional theory in the local density approximation combined with dynamical mean-field theory (LDA+DMFT). The impurity problem is solved through Exact Diagonalization (ED), which grants full access to the thermally mixed many-body ground state density operator. The quality of the electronic structure is affirmed through a direct comparison between the calculated electronic excitation spectrum and photoemission experiments. Our treatment allows for a quantitative investigation of the entanglement in the electronic structure. Two main sources of entanglement are explicitly resolved through the use of a fidelity based geometrical entanglement measure, and additional information is gained from a complementary entropic entanglement measure. We show that the interplay of crystal field effects and Coulomb interaction causes the entanglement in CoO to take a particularly intricate form.Comment: Minor changes. Journal reference adde

Complex edge effects in zigzag graphene nanoribbons due to hydrogen loading

We have performed density functional calculations as well as employed a tight-binding theory, to study the effect of passivation of zigzag graphene nanoribbons (ZGNR) by Hydrogen. We show that each edge C atom bonded with 2 H atoms open up a gap and destroys magnetism for small widths of the nanoribbon. However, a re-entrant magnetism accompanied by a metallic electronic structure is observed from 8 rows and thicker nanoribbons. The electronic structure and magnetic state are quite complex for this type of termination, with sp$^3$ bonded edge atoms being non-magnetic, whereas the nearest neighboring atoms are metallic and magnetic. We have also evaluated the phase stability of several thicknesses of ZGNR, and demonstrate that sp$^3$ bonded edge atoms, with 2 H atoms at the edge, should be stable at temperatures and pressures which are reachable in a laboratory environment.Comment: 11 figure