Excitonic-insulator instability and Peierls distortion in one-dimensional semimetals

in Physical Review. B (2022), 105(7), 075122

The charge density wave instability in one-dimensional semimetals is usually explained through a Peierls-like mechanism, where the coupling of electrons and phonons induces a periodic lattice distortion ... [more ▼]

The charge density wave instability in one-dimensional semimetals is usually explained through a Peierls-like mechanism, where the coupling of electrons and phonons induces a periodic lattice distortion along certain modes of vibration, leading to a gap opening in the electronic band structure and to a lowering of the symmetry of the lattice. In this work, we study two prototypical Peierls systems: the one-dimensional carbon chain and the monatomic hydrogen chain with accurate ab initio calculations based on quantum Monte Carlo and hybrid density functional theory. We demonstrate that in one-dimensional semimetals at T=0, a purely electronic instability can exist independently of a lattice distortion. It is induced by spontaneous formation of low energy electron-hole pairs resulting in the electronic band gap opening, i.e., the destabilization of the semimetallic phase is due to an excitonic mechanism. [less ▲]

Critical Role of the Exchange Interaction for the Electronic Structure and Charge-Density-Wave Formation in TiSe2

in Physical Review Letters (2017), 119

We show that the inclusion of screened exchange via hybrid functionals provides a unified description of the electronic and vibrational properties of TiSe2. In contrast to local approximations in density ... [more ▼]

We show that the inclusion of screened exchange via hybrid functionals provides a unified description of the electronic and vibrational properties of TiSe2. In contrast to local approximations in density functional theory, the explicit inclusion of exact, nonlocal exchange captures the effects of the electron-electron interaction needed to both separate the Ti-d states from the Se-p states and stabilize the charge-density- wave (CDW) (or low-T) phase through the formation of a p-d hybridized state. We further show that this leads to an enhanced electron-phonon coupling that can drive the transition even if a small gap opens in the high-T phase. Finally, we demonstrate that the hybrid functionals can generate a CDW phase where the electronic bands, the geometry, and the phonon frequencies are in agreement with experiments. [less ▲]

Raman spectroscopy as probe of nanometre-scale strain variations in graphene

Poster (2015, July 14)

Impact of the electron-electron correlation on phonon dispersion: Failure of LDA and GGA DFT functionals in graphene and graphite

in Physical Review. B (2008), 78(8),

We compute the electron-phonon coupling (EPC) of selected phonon modes in graphene and graphite using various ab initio methods. The inclusion of nonlocal exchange-correlation effects within the GW ... [more ▼]

We compute the electron-phonon coupling (EPC) of selected phonon modes in graphene and graphite using various ab initio methods. The inclusion of nonlocal exchange-correlation effects within the GW approach strongly renormalizes the square EPC of the A(1)' K mode by almost 80% with respect to density-functional theory in the LDA and GGA approximations. Within GW, the phonon slope of the A(1)' K mode is almost two times larger than in GGA and LDA, in agreement with phonon dispersions from inelastic x-ray scattering and Raman spectroscopy. The hybrid B3LYP functional overestimates the EPC at K by about 30%. Within the Hartree-Fock approximation, the graphene structure displays an instability under a distortion following the A(1)' 'phonon at K. [less ▲]