The energy and elastic dipole tensor of defects in ionic crystals calculated by the supercell method

Abstract

The energy, the elastic dipole tensor and the entropy of point defects in ionic crystals are usually calculated by the Mott-Littleton approach, which treats a single defect in an infinite crystal. The authors suggest that there may be advantages, particularly for the dipole tensor and the entropy, in performing the calculations in periodically repeating geometry. They examine how this 'supercell' method can be used for the energy and the dipole tensor, paying attention to the problem that for charged defects the repeating unit carries a net charge, so that the Coulomb energy is divergent. They test the supercell method on a number of both charged and uncharged defects, and show that the results for the energy and dipole tensor are in close agreement with those obtained by the conventional approach.