arXiv subjects

Paul Erhart

Publications and source records attributed to Paul Erhart.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Electric field-controlled reversible order-disorder switching of a metal tip surface

While it is well established that elevated temperatures can induce surface roughening of metal surfaces, the effect of a high electric field on the atomic structure at ambient temperature has not been investigated in detail. Here we show with atomic resolution using in situ transmission electron microscopy how intense electric fields induce reversible switching between perfect crystalline and disordered phases of gold surfaces at room temperature. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations reveal that the mechanism behind the structural change can be attributed to a vanishing energy cost in forming surface defects in high electric fields. Our results demonstrate how surface processes can be directly controlled at the atomic scale by an externally applied electric field, which promotes an effective decoupling of the topmost surface layers from the underlying bulk. This opens up opportunities for development of active nanodevices in e.g. nanophotonics and field-effect transistor technology as well as fundamental research in materials characterization and of yet unexplored dynamically-controlled low-dimensional phases of matter.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Interlayer exciton dynamics in van der Waals heterostructures

Exciton binding energies of hundreds of meV and strong light absorption in the optical frequency range make transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) promising for novel optoelectronic nanodevices. In particular, atomically thin TMDs can be stacked to heterostructures enabling the design of new materials with tailored properties. The strong Coulomb interaction gives rise to interlayer excitons, where electrons and holes are spatially separated in different layers. In this work, we reveal the microscopic processes behind the formation, thermalization and decay of these fundamentally interesting and technologically relevant interlayer excitonic states. In particular, we present for the exemplary MoSe$_2$-WSe$_2$ heterostructure the interlayer exciton binding energies and wave functions as well as their time- and energy-resolved dynamics. Finally, we predict the dominant contribution of interlayer excitons to the photoluminescence of these materials.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Resistivity Anomaly in Weyl Semimetal candidate Molybdenum Telluride

The Weyl semi-metal candidate MoTe$_{2}$ is expected to exhibit a range of exotic electronic transport properties. It exhibits a structural phase transition near room temperature that is evident in the thermal hysteresis in resistivity and thermopower (Seebeck coefficient) as well as large spin-orbit interaction. Here, we also document a resistivity anomaly of up to 13% in the temperature window between 25 and 50 K, which is found to be strongly anisotropic. Based on the experimental data in conjunction with density functional theory calculations, we conjecture that the anomaly can be related to the presence of defects in the system. These findings open opportunities for further investigations and understanding of the transport behavior in these newly discovered semi-metallic layered systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

libvdwxc: A library for exchange-correlation functionals in the vdW-DF family

We present libvdwxc, a general library for evaluating the energy and potential for the family of vdW-DF exchange--correlation functionals. libvdwxc provides an efficient implementation of the vdW-DF method and can be interfaced with various general-purpose DFT codes. Currently, the GPAW and Octopus codes implement interfaces to libvdwxc. The present implementation emphasizes scalability and parallel performance, and thereby enables \textit{ab initio} calculations of nanometer-scale complexes. The numerical accuracy is benchmarked on the S22 test set whereas parallel performance is benchmarked on ligand-protected gold nanoparticles ($\text{Au}_{144}(\text{SC}_{11}\text{NH}_{25})_{60}$) up to 9696 atoms.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Kohn-Sham decomposition in real-time time-dependent density-functional theory: An efficient tool for analyzing plasmonic excitations

The real-time-propagation formulation of time-dependent density-functional theory (RT-TDDFT) is an efficient method for modeling the optical response of molecules and nanoparticles. Compared to the widely adopted linear-response TDDFT approaches based on, e.g., the Casida equations, RT-TDDFT appears, however, lacking efficient analysis methods. This applies in particular to a decomposition of the response in the basis of the underlying single-electron states. In this work, we overcome this limitation by developing an analysis method for obtaining the Kohn-Sham electron-hole decomposition in RT-TDDFT. We demonstrate the equivalence between the developed method and the Casida approach by a benchmark on small benzene derivatives. Then, we use the method for analyzing the plasmonic response of icosahedral silver nanoparticles up to Ag$_{561}$. Based on the analysis, we conclude that in small nanoparticles individual single-electron transitions can split the plasmon into multiple resonances due to strong single-electron-plasmon coupling whereas in larger nanoparticles a distinct plasmon resonance is formed.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Mechanism of Re precipitation in irradiated W-Re alloys from kinetic Monte Carlo simulations

High-temperature, high-dose, neutron irradiation of W results in the formation of Re-rich clusters at concentrations one order of magnitude lower than the thermodynamic solubility limit. These clusters may eventually transform into brittle W-Re intermetallic phases, which can lead to high levels of hardening and thermal conductivity losses. Standard theories of radiation enhanced diffusion and precipitation cannot explain the formation of these precipitates and so understanding the mechanism by which nonequilibrium clusters form under irradiation is crucial to predict materials degradation and devise mitigation strategies. Here we carry out a thermodynamic study of W-Re alloys and conduct kinetic Monte Carlo simulations of Re cluster formation in irradiated W-2Re alloys using a generalized Hamiltonian for crystals containing point defects parameterized entirely with electronic structure calculations. Our model incorporates recently-gained mechanistic information of mixed-interstitial solute transport, which is seen to control cluster nucleation and growth by forming quasi-spherical nuclei after an average incubation time of 20 s at 1800 K. These nuclei are seen to grow by attracting more mixed interstitials bringing solute atoms, which in turns attracts vacancies leading to recombination and solute agglomeration. The clusters grow to a maximum size of approximately 4-nm radius, and are not fully dense with Re, containing 50% or less near the center. Our simulations are in reasonable agreement with recent atom probe examinations of ion irradiated W-2Re systems at 773 K.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

atomicrex - A general purpose tool for the construction of atomic interaction models

We introduce atomicrex, an open-source code for constructing interatomic potentials as well as more general types of atomic-scale models. Such effective models are required to simulate extended materials structures comprising many thousands of atoms or more, because electronic structure methods become computationally too expensive at this scale. atomicrex covers a wide range of interatomic potential types and fulfills many needs in atomistic model development. As inputs, it supports experimental property values as well as \textit{ab initio} energies and forces, to which models can be fitted using various optimization algorithms. The open architecture of atomicrex allows it to be used in custom model development scenarios beyond classical interatomic potentials while thanks to its Python interface it can be readily integrated e.g., with electronic structure calculations or machine learning algorithms.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Finite-temperature properties of non-magnetic transition metals: Comparison of the performance of constraint-based semi and nonlocal functionals

We assess the performance of nonempirical, truly nonlocal and semi-local functionals with regard to structural and thermal properties of $3d$, $4d$, and $5d$ non-magnetic transition metals. We focus on constraint-based functionals and consider the new consistent-exchange van der Waals density functional version vdW-DF-cx [Phys. Rev. B 89, 035412 (2014)], the semi-local PBE [Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 3865 (1996)] and PBEsol functionals [Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 136406 (2008)] as well as the AM05 meta-functional [Phys. Rev. B 72, 085108 (2005)]. Using the quasi-harmonic approximation structural parameters, elastic response, and thermal expansion at finite temperatures are computed and compared to experimental data. We also compute cohesive energies explicitly including zero-point vibrations. It is shown that overall vdW-DF-cx provides an accurate description of thermal properties and retains a level of transferability and accuracy that is comparable to or better than some of the best constraint-based semi-local functionals. Especially, with regard to the cohesive energies the consistent inclusion of spin polarization effects in the atoms turns out to be crucial and it is important to use the rigorous spin-vdW-DF-cx formulation [Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 136402 (2015)]. This demonstrates that vdW-DF-cx has general-purpose character and can be used to study systems that have both sparse and dense electron distributions.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Polaronic contributions to oxidation and hole conductivity in acceptor-doped BaZrO$_3$

Acceptor-doped perovskite oxides like BaZrO$_3$ are showing great potential as materials for renewable energy technologies where hydrogen acts an energy carrier, such as solid oxide fuel cells and hydrogen separation membranes. While ionic transport in these materials has been investigated intensively, the electronic counterpart has received much less attention and further exploration in this field is required. Here, we use density functional theory (DFT) to study hole polarons and their impact on hole conductivity in Y-doped BaZrO$_3$. Three different approaches have been used to remedy the self-interaction error of local and semi-local exchange-correlation functionals: DFT$+U$, pSIC-DFT and hybrid functionals. Self-trapped holes are found to be energetically favorable by about $-$0.1 eV and the presence of yttrium results in further stabilization. Polaron migration is predicted to occur through intraoctahedral transfer and polaron rotational processes, which are associated with adiabatic barriers of about 0.1 eV. However, the rather small energies associated with polaron formation and migration suggest that the hole becomes delocalized and band-like at elevated temperatures. These results together with an endothermic oxidation reaction [A. Lindman et al., Phys. Rev. B 91, 245114 (2015)] yield a picture that is consistent with experimental data for the hole conductivity. The results we present here provide new insight into hole transport in acceptor-doped BaZrO$_3$ and similar materials, which will be of value in the future development of sustainable technologies.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

The role of interstitial binding in radiation induced segregation in W-Re alloys

Due to their high strength and advantageous high-temperature properties, tungsten-based alloys are being considered as plasma-facing candidate materials in fusion devices. Under neutron irradiation, rhenium, which is produced by nuclear transmutation, has been found to precipitate in elongated precipitates forming thermodynamic intermetallic phases at concentrations well below the solubility limit. Recent measurements have shown that Re precipitation can lead to substantial hardening, which may have a detrimental effect on the fracture toughness of W alloys. This puzzle of sub-solubility precipitation points to the role played by irradiation induced defects, specifically mixed solute-W interstitials. Here, using first-principles calculations based on density functional theory, we study the energetics of mixed interstitial defects in W-Re, W-V, and W-Ti alloys, as well as the heat of mixing for each substitutional solute. We find that mixed interstitials in all systems are strongly attracted to each other with binding energies of -2.4 to -3.2 eV and form interstitial pairs that are aligned along parallel first-neighbor <111> strings. Low barriers for defect translation and rotation enable defect agglomeration and alignment even at moderate temperatures. We propose that these elongated agglomerates of mixed-interstitials may act as precursors for the formation of needle-shaped intermetallic precipitates. This interstitial-based mechanism is not limited to radiation induced segregation and precipitation in W-Re alloys but is also applicable to other body-centered cubic alloys.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Ab-initio prediction of fast non-equilibrium transport of nascent polarons in SrI$_2$: A key to high-performance scintillation

The excellent light yield proportionality of europium-doped strontium iodide (SrI$_2$:Eu) has resulted in state-of-the-art $γ$-ray detectors with remarkably high energy resolution, far exceeding that of most halide compounds. In this class of materials the formation of self-trapped hole polarons is very common. However, polaron formation is usually expected to limit carrier mobilities and has been associated with poor scintillator light-yield proportionality and resolution. Here, using a recently developed first-principles method, we perform an unprecedented study of polaron transport in SrI$_2$, both for equilibrium polarons, as well as nascent polarons immediately following a self-trapping event. As a result, we put forward a rationale for the unexpected high energy resolution of SrI$_2$. We identify nine stable hole polaron configurations, which consist of dimerized iodine pairs with polaron binding energies of up to 0.5\,eV. They are connected by a complex potential energy landscape that comprises 66 unique nearest-neighbor migration paths. \textit{Ab initio} molecular dynamics simulations reveal that a large fraction of polarons is born into configurations that migrate practically barrier free at room temperature. As a result, carriers created during $γ$-irradiation can quickly diffuse away reducing the chance for non-linear recombination reactions that are the primary culprits for non-proportionality and resolution reduction. This leads to the conclusion that the flat, albeit complex, landscape for polaron migration in SrI$_2$ is key for understanding its outstanding performance. This insight provides important guidance not only for the future development of high-performance scintillators but also of other materials, for which large polaron mobilities are crucial such as batteries and solid state ionic conductors.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Thermal expansion and transport in van der Waals solids from first-principles calculations

The lattice thermal expansion and conductivity in bulk Mo and W-based transition metal dichalcogenides are investigated by means of density functional and Boltzmann transport theory calculations. To this end, a recent van der Waals density functional (vdW-DF-CX) is employed, which is shown to yield excellent agreement with reference data for the structural parameters. The calculated in-plane thermal conductivity compares well with experimental room temperature values, when phonon-phonon and isotopic scattering are included. To explain the behavior over the entire available temperature range one must, however, include additional (temperature independent) scattering mechanisms that limit the mean free path. Generally, the primary heat carrying modes have mean free paths of $1\,μ\text{m}$ or more, which makes these materials very susceptible to structural defects. The conductivity of Mo and W-based TMDs is primarily determined by the chalcogenide species and increases in the order Te-Se-S. While for the tellurides and selenides the transition metal element has a negligible effect, the conductivity of WS$_2$ is notably higher than for MoS$_2$, which can be traced to the much larger phonon band gap of the former. Overall the present study provides a consistent set of thermal conductivities that reveal chemical trends and constitute the basis for future investigations of van der Waals solids.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

A variational polaron self-interaction corrected total-energy functional for charge excitations in wide-band gap insulators

We conduct a detailed investigation of the polaron self-interaction (pSI) error in standard approximations to the exchange-correlation (XC) functional within density-functional theory (DFT). The pSI leads to delocalization error in the polaron wave function and energy, as calculated from the Kohn-Sham (KS) potential in the native charge state of the polaron. This constitutes the origin of the systematic failure of DFT to describe polaron formation in band insulators. It is shown that the delocalization error in these systems is, however, largely absent in the KS potential of the closed-shell neutral charge state. This leads to a modification of the DFT total-energy functional that corrects the pSI in the XC functional. The resulting pSIC-DFT method constitutes an accurate parameter-free {\it ab initio} methodology for calculating polaron properties in insulators at a computational cost that is orders of magnitude smaller than hybrid XC functionals. Unlike approaches that rely on parametrized localized potentials such as DFT+$U$, the pSIC-DFT method properly captures both site and bond-centered polaron configurations. This is demonstrated by studying formation and migration of self-trapped holes in alkali halides (bond-centered) as well as self-trapped electrons in an elpasolite compound (site-centered). The pSIC-DFT approach consistently reproduces the results obtained by hybrid XC functionals parametrized by DFT+$G_0W_0$ calculations. Finally, we generalize the pSIC approach to hybrid functionals, and show that in stark contrast to conventional hybrid calculations of polaron energies, the pSIC-hybrid method is insensitive to the parametrization of the hybrid XC functional. On this basis, we further rationalize the success of the pSIC-DFT approach.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

A first-principles study of co-doping in lanthanum bromide

Co-doping of Ce-doped LaBr$_3$ with Ba, Ca, or Sr improves the energy resolution that can be achieved by radiation detectors based on these materials. Here, we present a mechanism that rationalizes of this enhancement that on the basis of first principles electronic structure calculations and point defect thermodynamics. It is shown that incorporation of Sr creates neutral $V_\text{Br}$-Sr$_\text{La}$ complexes that can temporarily trap electrons. As a result, Auger quenching of free carriers is reduced, allowing for a more linear, albeit slower, scintillation light yield response. Experimental Stokes shifts can be related to different Ce$_\text{La}$-Sr$_\text{La}$-$V_\text{Br}$ triple complex configurations. Co-doping with other alkaline as well as alkaline earth metals is considered as well. Alkaline elements are found to have extremely small solubilities on the order of 0.1 ppm and below at 1000 K. Among the alkaline earth metals the lighter dopant atoms prefer interstitial-like positions and create strong scattering centers, which has a detrimental impact on carrier mobilities. Only the heavier alkaline earth elements combine matching ionic radii with sufficiently high solubilities. This provides a rationale for the experimental finding that improved scintillator performance is exclusively achieved using Sr, Ca, or Ba. The present mechanism demonstrates that co-doping of wide gap materials can provide an efficient means for managing charge carrier populations under out-of-equilibrium conditions. In the present case dopants are introduced that manipulate not only the concentrations but the electronic properties of intrinsic defects without introducing additional gap levels. This leads to the availability of shallow electron traps that can temporarily localize charge carriers, effectively deactivating carrier-carrier recombination channels. The principles of this ... [continued]

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Implications of the band gap problem on oxidation and hydration in acceptor-doped barium zirconate

Charge carrier concentrations in acceptor-doped proton-conducting perovskites are to a large extent determined by the hydration and oxidation of oxygen vacancies, which introduce protons and holes, respectively. First-principles modeling of these reactions involves calculation of formation energies of charged defects, which requires an accurate description of the band gap and the position of the band edges. Since density-functional theory (DFT) with local and semi-local exchange-correlation functionals (LDA and GGA) systematically fails to predict these quantities this can have serious implications on the modeling of defect reactions. In this study we investigate how the description of band gap and band edge positions affects the hydration and oxidation in acceptor-doped BaZrO$_3$. First-principles calculations are performed in combination with thermodynamic modeling in order to obtain equilibrium charge carrier concentrations at different temperatures and partial pressures. Three different methods have been considered: DFT with both semi-local (PBE) and hybrid (PBE0) exchange-correlation functionals, and many-body perturbation theory within the $G_0W_0$-approximation. All three methods yield similar results for the hydration reaction, which are consistent with experimental findings. For the oxidation reaction, on the other hand, there is a qualitative difference. PBE predicts the reaction to be exothermic while the two others predict an endothermic behavior. Results from thermodynamic modeling are compared with available experimental data, such as enthalpies, concentrations and conductivities, and only the results obtained with PBE0 and $G_0W_0$, with an endothermic oxidation behavior, give a satisfactory agreement with experiments.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Origin of resolution enhancement by co-doping of scintillators: Insight from electronic structure calculations

It was recently shown that the energy resolution of Ce-doped LaBr$_3$ scintillator radiation detectors can be crucially improved by co-doping with Sr, Ca, or Ba. Here we outline a mechanism for this enhancement on the basis of electronic structure calculations. We show that (i) Br vacancies are the primary electron traps during the initial stage of thermalization of hot carriers, prior to hole capture by Ce dopants; (ii) isolated Br vacancies are associated with deep levels; (iii) Sr doping increases the Br vacancy concentration by several orders of magnitude; (iv) $\text{Sr}_\text{La}$ binds to $V_\text{Br}$ resulting in a stable neutral complex; and (v) association with Sr causes the deep vacancy level to move toward the conduction band edge. The latter is essential for reducing the effective carrier density available for Auger quenching during thermalization of hot carriers. Subsequent de-trapping of electrons from $\text{Sr}_\text{La}-V_\text{La}$ complexes then can activate Ce dopants that have previously captured a hole leading to luminescence. This mechanism implies an overall reduction of Auger quenching of free carriers, which is expected to improve the linearity of the photon light yield with respect to the energy of incident electron or photon.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Surface potential at a ferroelectric grain due to asymmetric screening of depolarization fields

Nonlinear screening of electric depolarization fields, generated by a stripe domain structure in a ferroelectric grain of a polycrystalline material, is studied within a semiconductor model of ferroelectrics. It is shown that the maximum strength of local depolarization fields is rather determined by the electronic band gap than by the spontaneous polarization magnitude. Furthermore, field screening due to electronic band bending and due to presence of intrinsic defects leads to asymmetric space charge regions near the grain boundary, which produce an effective dipole layer at the surface of the grain. This results in the formation of a potential difference between the grain surface and its interior of the order of 1 V, which can be of either sign depending on defect transition levels and concentrations. Exemplary acceptor doping of BaTiO3 is shown to allow tuning of the said surface potential in the region between 0.1 and 1.3 V.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Efficacy of the DFT+U formalism for modeling hole polarons in perovskite oxides

We investigate the formation of self-trapped holes (STH) in three prototypical perovskites (SrTiO3, BaTiO3, PbTiO3) using a combination of density functional theory (DFT) calculations with local potentials and hybrid functionals. First we construct a local correction potential for polaronic configurations in SrTiO3 that is applied via the DFT+U method and matches the forces from hybrid calculations. We then use the DFT+U potential to search the configuration space and locate the lowest energy STH configuration. It is demonstrated that both the DFT+U potential and the hybrid functional yield a piece-wise linear dependence of the total energy on the occupation of the STH level suggesting that self-interaction effects have been properly removed. The DFT+U model is found to be transferable to BaTiO3 and PbTiO3, and formation energies from DFT+U and hybrid calculations are in close agreement for all three materials. STH formation is found to be energetically favorable in SrTiO3 and BaTiO3 but not in PbTiO3, which can be rationalized by considering the alignment of the valence band edges on an absolute energy scale. In the case of PbTiO3 the strong coupling between Pb 6s and O 2p states lifts the valence band minimum (VBM) compared to SrTiO3 and BaTiO3. This reduces the separation between VBM and STH level and renders the STH configuration metastable with respect to delocalization (band hole state). We expect that the present approach can be adapted to study STH formation also oxides with different crystal structures and chemical composition.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗