Year: 2002
Type: article
Abstract: We describe a method for computing the response of an insulator to a static, homogeneous electric field. It consists of iteratively minimizing an electric enthalpy functional expressed in terms of occupied Bloch-like states on a uniform grid of k points. The functional has equivalent local minima below a critical field E(c) that depends inversely on the density of k points; the disappearance of the minima at E(c) signals the onset of Zener breakdown. We illustrate the procedure by computing the piezoelectric and nonlinear dielectric susceptibility tensors of III-V semiconductors.
Source: Physical Review Letters
Authors: Ivo Souza, Jorge Íñiguez, David Vanderbilt
Institution: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1997629773