arXiv subjects

Ambroise van Roekeghem

Publications and source records attributed to Ambroise van Roekeghem.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Anomalous thermal conductivity and suppression of negative thermal expansion in ScF3

The empty perovskite ScF3 exhibits negative thermal expansion up to 1100 K. We demonstrate that ab-initio calculations of temperature-dependent effective phonon spectra allow to quantitatively describe the behavior of this compound and the suppression of negative thermal expansion. Based on this result, we predict an anomalous temperature dependence of the thermal conductivity and interpret it as a general feature of the perovskite class. Finally, we comment on the fact that the suppression of negative thermal expansion at such a high temperature is beyond the reach of the quasi-harmonic approximation and we discuss this suppression based on the temperature-dependence of the mode Grüneisen parameters.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

High throughput thermal conductivity of high temperature solid phases: The case of oxide and fluoride perovskites

Using finite-temperature phonon calculations and machine-learning methods, we calculate the mechanical stability of about 400 semiconducting oxides and fluorides with cubic perovskite structures at 0 K, 300 K and 1000 K. We find 92 mechanically stable compounds at high temperatures -- including 36 not mentioned in the literature so far -- for which we calculate the thermal conductivity. We demonstrate that the thermal conductivity is generally smaller in fluorides than in oxides, largely due to a lower ionic charge, and describe simple structural descriptors that are correlated with its magnitude. Furthermore, we show that the thermal conductivities of most cubic perovskites decrease more slowly than the usual $T^{-1}$ behavior. Within this set, we also screen for materials exhibiting negative thermal expansion. Finally, we describe a strategy to accelerate the discovery of mechanically stable compounds at high temperatures.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Hubbard interactions in iron-based pnictides and chalcogenides: Slater parametrization, screening channels and frequency dependence

We calculate the strength of the frequency-dependent on-site electronic interactions in the iron pnictides LaFeAsO, BaFe2As2, BaRu2As2, and LiFeAs and the chalcogenide FeSe from first principles within the constrained random phase approximation. We discuss the accuracy of an atomic-like parametrization of the two-index density-density interaction matrices based on the calculation of an optimal set of three independent Slater integrals, assuming that the angular part of the Fe-d localized orbitals can be described within spherical harmonics as for isolated Fe atoms. We show that its quality depends on the ligand-metal bonding character rather than on the dimensionality of the lattice: it is excellent for ionic-like Fe-Se (FeSe) chalcogenides and a more severe approximation for more covalent Fe-As (LaFeAsO, BaFe2As2) pnictides. We furthermore analyze the relative importance of different screening channels, with similar conclusions for the different pnictides but a somewhat different picture for the benchmark oxide SrVO3: the ligand channel does not appear to be dominant in the pnictides, while oxygen screening is the most important process in the oxide. Finally, we analyze the frequency dependence of the interaction. In contrast to simple oxides, in iron pnictides its functional form cannot be simply modeled by a single plasmon, and the actual density of modes enters the construction of an effective Hamiltonian determining the low-energy properties.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Electronic Polarons, Cumulants and Doubly Dynamical Mean Field Theory: Theoretical Spectroscopy for Correlated and Less Correlated Materials

The use of effective local Coulomb interactions that are dynamical, that is, frequency-dependent, is an efficient tool to describe the effect of long-range Coulomb interactions and screening thereof in solids. The dynamical character of the interaction introduces the coupling to screening degrees of freedom such as plasmons or particle-hole excitations into the many-body description. We summarize recent progress using these concepts, putting emphasis on dynamical mean field theory (DMFT) calculations with dynamical interactions ("doubly dynamical mean field theory"). We discuss the relation to the combined GW+DMFT method and its simplified version "Screened Exchange DMFT", as well as the cumulant schemes of many-body perturbation theory. On the example of the simple transition metal SrVO3, we illustrate the mechanism of the appearance of plasmonic satellite structures in the spectral properties, and discuss implications for the low-energy electronic structure.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Spectral properties of transition metal pnictides and chalcogenides: angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and dynamical mean field theory

Electronic Coulomb correlations lead to characteristic signatures in the spectroscopy of transition metal pnictides and chalcogenides: quasi-particle renormalizations, lifetime effects or incoherent badly metallic behavior above relatively low coherence temperatures are measures of many-body effects due to local Hubbard and Hund's couplings. We review and compare the results of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy experiments (ARPES) and of combined density functional dynamical mean field theory (DFT+DMFT) calculations. We emphasize the doping-dependence of the quasi-particle mass renormalization and coherence properties.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Towards a first-principles determination of effective Coulomb interactions in correlated electron materials: Role of intershell interactions

The determination of the effective Coulomb interactions to be used in low-energy Hamiltonians for materials with strong electronic correlations remains one of the bottlenecks for parameter-free electronic structure calculations. We propose and benchmark a scheme for determining the effective local Coulomb interactions for charge-transfer oxides and related compounds. Intershell interactions between electrons in the correlated shell and ligand orbitals are taken into account in an effective manner, leading to a reduction of the effective local interactions on the correlated shell. Our scheme resolves inconsistencies in the determination of effective interactions as obtained by standard methods for a wide range of materials, and allows for a conceptual understanding of the relation of cluster model and dynamical mean field-based electronic structure calculations.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Tetragonal and collapsed-tetragonal phases of CaFe2As2 -- a view from angle-resolved photoemission and dynamical mean field theory

We present a study of the tetragonal to collapsed-tetragonal transition of CaFe2As2 using angle-resolved photoemission experiments and dynamical mean field theory-based electronic structure calculations. We observe that the collapsed-tetragonal phase exhibits reduced correlations and a higher coherence temperature due to the stronger Fe-As hybridization. Furthermore, a comparison of measured photoemission spectra and theoretical spectral functions shows that momentum-dependent corrections to the density functional band structure are essential for the description of low-energy quasiparticle dispersions. We introduce those using the recently proposed combined "Screened Exchange + Dynamical Mean Field Theory" scheme.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

Dynamical correlations and screened exchange on the experimental bench: spectral properties of the cobalt pnictide BaCo2As2

Understanding the Fermi surface and low-energy excitations of iron or cobalt pnictides is crucial for assessing electronic instabilities such as magnetic or superconducting states. Here, we propose and implement a new approach to compute the low-energy properties of correlated electron materials, taking into account both screened exchange beyond the local density approximation and local dynamical correlations. The scheme allows us to resolve the puzzle of BaCo2As2, for which standard electronic structure techniques predict a ferromagnetic instability not observed in nature.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

Screened exchange dynamical mean field theory and its relation to density functional theory: SrVO3 and SrTiO3

We present the first application of a recently proposed electronic-structure scheme to transition metal oxides: screened exchange dynamical mean-field theory includes non-local exchange beyond the local density approximation and dynamical correlations beyond standard dynamical mean-field theory. Our results for the spectral function of SrVO3 are in agreement with the available experimental data, including photoemission spectroscopy and thermodynamics. Finally, the 3d0 compound SrTiO3 serves as a test case to illustrate how the theory reduces to the band structure of standard electronic-structure techniques for weakly correlated compounds.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

Correlation-induced self-doping in intercalated iron-pnictide superconductor Ba2Ti2Fe2As4O

The electronic structure of the intercalated iron-based superconductor Ba2Ti2Fe2As4O (Tc - 21.5 K) has been investigated by using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and combined local density approximation and dynamical mean field theory calculations. The electronic states near the Fermi level are dominated by both the Fe 3d and Ti 3d orbitals, indicating that the spacing layers separating different FeAs layers are also metallic. By counting the enclosed volumes of the Fermi surface sheets, we observe a large self-doping effect, i.e. 0.25 electrons per unit cell are transferred from the FeAs layer to the Ti2As2O layer, leaving the FeAs layer in a hole-doped state. This exotic behavior is successfully reproduced by our dynamical mean field calculations, in which the self-doping effect is attributed to the electronic correlations in the Fe 3d shell. Our work provides an alternative route of effective doping without element substitution for iron-based superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗