An implementation of the density functional perturbation theory in the PAW framework

Abstract

Quantifying materials' dynamical responses to external electromagnetic fields is central to understanding their physical properties. Here we present an implementation of the density functional perturbation theory for the computation of linear susceptibilities using the projector augmented-wave method. The Sternheimer equations are solved self-consistently through a nested iterative procedure to compute the first-order wavefunctions, from which the linear susceptibilities are obtained. As a demonstration, we compute the spin wave spectral functions of two magnetic metals. The computed magnon spectra for half-metallic CrO$_2$ and a Heusler intermetallic Cu$_2$MnAl show gapless Goldstone modes when spin rotation symmetry is preserved and display reasonable agreement with available experimental data. The Landau damping is computed to be small in CrO$_2$, but significant in Cu$_2$MnAl producing an asymmetric Lorentzian spectral lineshape. The access to linear susceptibilities as well as first-order wavefunctions offers a range of novel possibilities in quantitative understanding of materials' electronic properties from \textit{ab initio} methods.