Ab-initio simulations of materials using VASP: Density-functional theory and beyond

Autor(en)

Juergen Hafner

Abstrakt

During the past decade, computer simulations based on a quantum-mechanical description of the interactions between electrons and between electrons and atomic nuclei have developed an increasingly important impact on solid-state physics and chemistry and on materials science-promoting not only a deeper understanding, but also the possibility to contribute significantly to materials design for future technologies. This development is based on two important columns: (i) The improved description of electronic many-body effects within density-functional theory (DFT) and the upcoming post-DFT methods. (ii) The implementation of the new functionals and many-body techniques withing highly efficient,stable, and versatile computer codes, which allow to exploit the potential of modern computer architectures. In this review, I discuss the implementation of various DFT functionals [local-density approximation (LDA), generalized gradient approximation (GGA), meta-GGA, hybrid functional mixing DFT, and exact (Hartree-Fock) exchange] and post-DFT approaches [DFT + U for strong electronic correlations in narrow bands, many-body perturbation theory (GW) for quasiparticle spectra, dynamical correlation effects via the adiabatic-connection fluctuation-dissipation theorem (AC-FDT)] in the Vienna ab initio simulation package VASP. VASP is a plane-wave all-electron code using the projector-augmented wave method to describe the electron-core interaction. The code uses fast iterative techniques for the diagonalization of the DFT Hamiltonian and allows to perform total-energy calculations and structural optimizations for systems with thousands of atoms and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations for ensembles with a few hundred atoms extending over several tens of ps. Applications in many different areas {structure and phase stability, mechanical and dynamical properties, liquids, glasses and quasicrystals, magnetism and magnetic nanostructures, semiconductors and insulators, surfaces, interfaces and thin films, chemical reactions, and catalysis) are reviewed.

Organisation(en)

Computergestützte Materialphysik

Journal

Journal of Computational Chemistry

Band

29

Seiten

2044-2078

Anzahl der Seiten

35

ISSN

0192-8651

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1002/jcc.21057

Publikationsdatum

2008

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

103015 Kondensierte Materie

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/d577af66-6185-44bb-a07e-6f02ed5afe47