A new methodology for the extraction of anharmonic force constants from first principles density functional calculations

Abstract

A new method for extracting force constants (FC) from first principles is introduced. It requires small supercells but very accurate forces. In principle, provided that forces are accurate enough, it can extract harmonic as well as anharmonic FCs up to any neighbor shell. Symmetries of the FCs as well as those of the lattice are used to reduce the number of parameters to be calculated. Results are illustrated for the case of Lennard-Jones potential where forces are exact and FCs can be calculated analytically, and Si in the diamond structure. The latter are compared to previously calculated harmonic FCs.