Relativistic two-component formulation of time-dependent current-density functional theory: application to the linear response of solids.

In this paper we derive the relativistic two-component formulation of time-dependent current-density-functional theory. To arrive at a two-component current-density formulation we apply a Foldy-Wouthuysen-type transformation to the time-dependent four-component Dirac-Kohn-Sham equations of relativistic density-functional theory. The two-component Hamiltonian is obtained as a regular expansion which is gauge invariant at each order of approximation, and to zeroth order it represents the time-dependent version of the relativistic zeroth order regular Hamiltonian obtained by van Lenthe et al., for the ground state [J. Chem. Phys.99, 4597 (1993)]. The corresponding zeroth order regular expression for the density is unchanged, whereas the current-density operator now comprises a paramagnetic, a diamagnetic, and a spin contribution, similar to the Gordon decomposition of the Dirac four current. The zeroth order current density is directly related to the mean velocity corresponding to the zeroth order Hamiltonian. These density and current density operators satisfy the continuity equation. This zeroth order approximation is therefore consistent and physically realistic. By combining this formalism with the formulation of the linear response of solids within time-dependent current-density functional theory [Romaniello and de Boeij, Phys. Rev. B71, 155108 (2005)], we derive a method that can treat orbital and spin contributions to the response in a unified way. The effect of spin-orbit coupling can now be taken into account. As first test we apply the method to calculate the relativistic effects in the linear response of several metals and nonmetals to a macroscopic electric field. Treatment of spin-orbit coupling yields visible changes in the spectra: a smooth onset of the interband transitions in the absorption spectrum of Au, a sharp onset with peak at about 0.46 eV in the absorption spectrum of W, and a low-frequency doublet structure in the absorption spectra of ZnTe, CdTe, and HgTe in agreement with experimental results.

A physical model for the longitudinal polarizabilities of polymer chains.

The aim of this work is to provide a physical model to relate the polarizability per unit cell of oligomers to that of their corresponding infinite polymer chains. For this we propose an extrapolation method for the polarizability per unit cell of oligomers by fitting them to a physical model describing the dielectric properties of polymer chains. This physical model is based on the concept of a dielectric needle in which we assume a polymer chain to be well described by a cylindrically shaped nonconducting rod with a radius much smaller than its length. With this model we study in which way the polarizability per unit cell approaches the limit of the infinite chain. We show that within this model the macroscopic contribution of the induced electric field to the macroscopic electric field vanishes in the limit of an infinite polymer chain, i.e., there is no macroscopic screening. The macroscopic electric field becomes equal to the external electric field in this limit. We show that this identification leads to a relation between the polarizability per unit cell and the electric susceptibility of the infinite polymer chain. We test our dielectric needle model on the polarizability per unit cell of oligomers of the hydrogen chain and polyacetylene obtained earlier using time-dependent current-density-functional theory in the adiabatic local-density approximation and with the Vignale-Kohn functional. We also perform calculations using the same theory on truly infinite polymer chains by employing periodic boundary conditions. We show that by extrapolating the oligomer results according to our dielectric needle model we get good agreement with our results from calculations on the corresponding infinite polymer chains.

The role of relativity in the optical response of gold within the time-dependent current-density-functional theory.

We included relativistic effects in the formulation of the time-dependent current-density-functional theory for the calculation of linear response properties of metals [P. Romaniello and P. L. de Boeij, Phys. Rev. B (to be published)]. We treat the dominant scalar-relativistic effects using the zeroth-order regular approximation in the ground-state density-functional theory calculations, as well as in the time-dependent response calculations. The results for the dielectric function of gold calculated in the spectral range of 0-10 eV are compared with experimental data reported in literature and recent ellipsometric measurements. As well known, relativistic effects strongly influence the color of gold. We find that the onset of interband transitions is shifted from around 3.5 eV, obtained in a nonrelativistic calculation, to around 1.9 eV when relativity is included. With the inclusion of the scalar-relativistic effects there is an overall improvement of both real and imaginary parts of the dielectric function over the nonrelativistic ones. Nevertheless some important features in the absorption spectrum are not well reproduced, but can be explained in terms of spin-orbit coupling effects. The remaining deviations are attributed to the underestimation of the interband gap (5d-6sp band gap) in the local-density approximation and to the use of the adiabatic local-density approximation in the response calculation.

Excitation energies of pi-conjugated oligomers within time-dependent current-density-functional theory.

We study the pi*<--pi singlet excitations of the pi-conjugated oligomers of polyacetylene, polydiacetylene, polybutatriene, polythiophene, poly(para-phenylene vinylene), and the lowest singlet excitations of the hydrogen chain. For this we used time-dependent current-density-functional theory within the Vignale-Kohn and adiabatic local density approximations. By studying the dependence of the excitation spectrum on the chain length we conclude that the reduction of the static polarizability when using the Vignale-Kohn functional has two origins. First, the excitation energies of transitions with a large transition dipole are shifted upward. Second, the character of the transition between the lowest occupied and highest unoccupied molecular orbitals and the oscillator strength of the lowest transition within the adiabatic local density approximation is transferred to higher transitions. The lowest transitions that have a considerable oscillator strength obtained with the Vignale-Kohn functional have excitation energies that are in most cases in better agreement with available reference data than the adiabatic local density approximation.

Excitation energies for a benchmark set of molecules obtained within time-dependent current-density functional theory using the Vignale-Kohn functional.

In this article we explain how the existing linear response theory of time-dependent density-functional theory can be extended to obtain excitation energies in the framework of time-dependent current-density-functional theory. We use the Vignale-Kohn current-functional [G. Vignale and W. Kohn, Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 2037 (1996)] which has proven to be successful for describing ultranonlocal exchange-correlation effects in the case of the axial polarizability of molecular chains [M. van Faassen, P. L. de Boeij, R. van Leeuwen, J. A. Berger, and J. G. Snijders, Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 186401 (2002); J. Chem. Phys. 118, 1044 (2003)]. We study a variety of singlet excitations for a benchmark set of molecules. The pi(*)<--pi transitions obtained with the Vignale-Kohn functional are in good agreement with experiment and other theoretical results and they are in general an improvement upon the adiabatic local density approximation. In case of the pi(*)<--n transitions the Vignale-Kohn functional fails, giving results that strongly overestimate the experimental and other theoretical results. The benchmark set also contains some other types of excitations for which no clear failures or improvements are observed.

Ultranonlocality in time-dependent current-density-functional theory: application to conjugated polymers.

We solve the long-standing problem of the large overestimation of the static polarizability of conjugated polymers obtained using the local density approximation within density-functional theory. The local approximation is unable to describe the highly nonlocal exchange and correlation (xc) effects found in these quasi-one-dimensional systems. Time-dependent current-density-functional theory enables a local current description of ultranonlocal xc effects using the Vignale-Kohn functional [G. Vignale and W. Kohn, Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 2037 (1996)]. Except for the model hydrogen chain, our results are in excellent agreement with the best available correlated methods.