Predicted Pressure-Induced s-Band Ferromagnetism in Alkali Metals

First-principles density-functional-theory calculations show that compression of alkali metals stabilizes open structures with localized interstitial electrons which may exhibit a Stoner-type instability towards ferromagnetism. We find ferromagnetic phases of the lithium-IV-type, simple cubic, and simple hexagonal structures in the heavier alkali metals, which may be described as s-band ferromagnets. We predict that the most stable phases of potassium at low temperatures and pressures around 20 GPa are ferromagnets

Shape and energy consistent pseudopotentials for correlated electron systems

A method is developed for generating pseudopotentials for use in correlated-electron calculations. The paradigms of shape and energy consistency are combined and defined in terms of correlated-electron wave-functions. The resulting energy consistent correlated electron pseudopotentials (eCEPPs) are constructed for H, Li–F, Sc–Fe, and Cu. Their accuracy is quantified by comparing the relaxed molecular geometries and dissociation energies which they provide with all electron results, with all quantities evaluated using coupled cluster singles, doubles, and triples calculations. Errors inherent in the pseudopotentials are also compared with those arising from a number of approximations commonly used with pseudopotentials. The eCEPPs provide a significant improvement in optimised geometries and dissociation energies for small molecules, with errors for the latter being an order-of-magnitude smaller than for Hartree-Fock-based pseudopotentials available in the literature. Gaussian basis sets are optimised for use with these pseudopotentials.R.J.N. and J.R.T. acknowledge financial support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of the U.K. (No. EP/J017639/1)

High-Pressure Phases of Nitrogen

Density-functional-theory calculations and a structure-searching method are used to identify candidate high-pressure phases of nitrogen. We find six structures which are calculated to be more stable than previously studied structures at some pressures. Our four new molecular structures give insight into the most efficient packings of nitrogen molecules at high pressures, and we predict two new nonmolecular structures to be stable at very high pressures

Perspective: Role of structure prediction in materials discovery and design

Materials informatics owes much to bioinformatics and the Materials Genome Initiative has been inspired by the Human Genome Project. But there is more to bioinformatics than genomes, and the same is true for materials informatics. Here we describe the rapidly expanding role of searching for structures of materials using first-principles electronic-structure methods. Structure searching has played an important part in unraveling structures of dense hydrogen and in identifying the record-high-temperature superconducting component in hydrogen sulfide at high pressures. We suggest that first-principles structure searching has already demonstrated its ability to determine structures of a wide range of materials and that it will play a central and increasing part in materials discovery and design.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from the American Institute of Physics via http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.494936

Anharmonic nuclear motion and the relative stability of hexagonal and cubic ice

We use extensive first-principles quantum mechanical calculations to show that, although the static lattice and harmonic vibrational energies are almost identical, the anharmonic vibrational energy of hexagonal ice is significantly lower than that of cubic ice. This difference in anharmonicity is crucial, stabilising hexagonal ice compared with cubic ice by at least 1.4 meV/H2O, in agreement with experimental estimates. The difference in anharmonicity arises predominantly from molecular O-H bond stretching vibrational modes and is related to the different stacking of atomic layers.We acknowledge financial support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council of the UK [EP/J017639/1]. B. M. also acknowledges Robinson College, Cambridge, and the Cambridge Philosophical Society for a Henslow Research Fellowship. The calculations were performed on the Cambridge High Performance Computing Service facility and the HECToR and Archer facilities of the UK’s national high-performance computing service (for which access was obtained via the UKCP consortium [EP/K013564/1]).This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from APS via http://dx.doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.5.02103

Giant electron-phonon interactions in molecular crystals and the importance of nonquadratic coupling

We investigate electron-phonon coupling in the molecular crystals CH$_4$, NH$_3$, H$_2$O, and HF, using first-principles quantum mechanical calculations. We find vibrational corrections to the electronic band gaps at zero temperature of -1.97 eV, -1.01 eV, -1.52 eV, and -1.62 eV, respectively, which are comparable in magnitude to those from electron-electron correlation effects. Microscopically, the strong electron-phonon coupling arises in roughly equal measure from the almost dispersionless high-frequency molecular modes and from the lower frequency lattice modes. We also highlight the limitations of the widely used Allen-Heine-Cardona theory, which gives significant discrepancies compared to our more accurate treatment.B.M. acknowledges Robinson College, Cambridge, and the Cambridge Philosophical Society for a Henslow Research Fellowship. E.A.E. and R.J.N. acknowledge financial support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of the UK [EP/K013688/1]. The calculations were performed on the Cambridge High Performance Computing Service facility and the Archer facility of the UK's national high-performance computing service (for which access was obtained via the UKCP consortium [EP/K013564/1]).This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from APS via http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.92.14030

Low-energy tetrahedral polymorphs of carbon, silicon, and germanium

Searches for low-energy tetrahedral polymorphs of carbon and silicon have been performed using density functional theory computations and the ab initio random structure searching (AIRSS) ap- proach. Several of the hypothetical phases obtained in our searches have enthalpies that are lower or comparable to those of other polymorphs of group 14 elements that have either been experimentally synthesized or recently proposed as the structure of unknown phases obtained in experiments, and should thus be considered as particularly interesting candidates. A structure of P bam symmetry with 24 atoms in the unit cell was found to be a low energy, low-density metastable polymorph in carbon, silicon, and germanium. In silicon, Pbam is found to have a direct band gap at the zone center with an estimated value of 1.4 eV, which suggests applications as a photovoltaic material. We have also found a low-energy chiral framework structure of P 41 21 2 symmetry with 20 atoms per cell containing fivefold spirals of atoms, whose projected topology is that of the so-called Cairo-type two- dimensional pentagonal tiling. We suggest that P41 21 2 is a likely candidate for the structure of the unknown phase XIII of silicon. We discuss Pbam and P41 21 2 in detail, contrasting their energetics and structures with those of other group 14 elements, particularly the recently proposed P42 /ncm structure, for which we also provide a detailed interpretation as a network of tilted diamond-like tetrahedra.AM acknowledges the financial support of the Ministerio de Educaci´on, Cultura y Deporte (MECD, Spain) through its Programa de Movilidad de Recursos Humanos (Plan Nacional de I+D+i), grant PRX12/00335, and of project MAT2010-21270-C04-03. Access to the MALTA computer cluster (Universidad de Oviedo, Project CSD2007-00045) and the High Performance Computing Service of the University of Cambridge are gratefully acknowledged. RJN and CJP were supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of the UK.We thank Keith Refson for useful discussions.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from APS at http://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.91.214104

Reply to "comment on 'High-pressure phases of group-II difluorides: Polymorphism and superionicity' "

Cazorla et al. (preceding Comment) criticize our recent results on the high-PT phase diagram of CaF2 [Phys. Rev. B 95, 054118 (2017)]. According to our analysis, Cazorla et al. have not converged their calculations with respect to simulation cell size, undermining the Comment's conclusions about both the high-T behavior of the P62m-CaF2 polymorph, and the use of the QHA in our work. As such, we take this opportunity to emphasize the importance of correctly converging molecular-dynamics simulations to avoid finite-size errors. We compare our quasiharmonic phase diagram for CaF2 with currently available experimental data, and we find it to be entirely consistent and in qualitative agreement with such data. Our prediction of a superionic phase transition in P62m-CaF2 (made on the basis of the QHA) is shown to be accurate, and we argue that simple descriptors, such as phonon frequencies, can offer valuable insight and predictive power concerning superionic behavior.Non

Pseudopotential for the electron-electron interaction

We propose a pseudopotential for the electron-electron Coulomb interaction to improve the efficiency of many-body electronic structure calculations. The pseudopotential accurately replicates the scattering properties of the Coulomb interaction, and recovers the analytical solution for two electrons in a parabolic trap. A case study for the homogeneous electron gas using the diffusion Monte Carlo and configuration interaction methods recovers highly accurate values for the ground state energy, and the smoother potential reduces the computational cost by a factor of ~30. Finally, we demonstrate the use of the pseudopotential to study isolated lithium and beryllium atoms.GJC acknowledges the financial support of the Royal Society and Gonville & Caius College.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from APS via http://dx.doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.92.07510

Hexagonal structure of phase III of solid hydrogen

A hexagonal structure of solid molecular hydrogen with $P6_122$ symmetry is calculated to be more stable below about 200 GPa than the monoclinic $C2/c$ structure identified previously as the best candidate for phase III. We find that the effects of nuclear quantum and thermal vibrations play a central role in the stabilization of $P6_122$. The $P6_122$ and $C2/c$ structures are very similar and their Raman and infra-red data are in good agreement with experiment. However, our calculations show that the hexagonal $P6_122$ structure provides better agreement with the available x-ray diffraction data than the $C2/c$ structure at pressures below about 200 GPa. We suggest that two phase-III-like structures may be formed at high pressures, hexagonal $P6_122$ below about 200 GPa and monoclinic $C2/c$ at higher pressures.B.M. acknowledges Robinson College, Cambridge, and the Cambridge Philosophical Society for a Henslow Research Fellowship. R.J.N., E.G., and C.J.P. acknowledge financial support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of the United Kingdom (Grants No. EP/J017639/1, No. EP/J003999/1, and No. EP/K013688/1, respectively). C.J.P. is also supported by the Royal Society through a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit award. The calculations were performed on the Darwin Supercomputer of the University of Cambridge High Performance Computing Service facility (http://www.hpc.cam.ac.uk/) and the Archer facility of the UK national high performance computing service, for which access was obtained via the UKCP consortium and funded by EPSRC Grant No. EP/K014560/1.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the American Physical Society via https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.94.13410