Benedict, L.
, Shirley, E.
and Bohn, R.
(1998),
Optical Absorption of Insulators and the Electron-Hole Interaction: An Ab Initio Calculation, Physical Review Letters, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=841268
(Accessed October 7, 2025)
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (
) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
Optical Absorption of Insulators and the Electron-Hole Interaction: An Ab Initio Calculation
Published
Author(s)
, ,
Abstract
We present a computationally efficient scheme to calculate the optical absorption of insulators from first principles, including the electron-hole interaction. Excited states of the solid are chosen to consist of single electron-hole pairs. The electron-hole interaction is statically screened using a model dielectric function. Only two pieces of input are required: the crystal structure of the material and the macroscopic dielectric constant. We apply this scheme to two wide-gap insulators, LiF, and MgO, and obtain excellent agreement with experimental measurements of their UV reflectance spectra.Citation
Physical Review Letters
Volume
80
Issue
No. 20
Pub Type
Journals
Download Paper
Keywords
exciton, lithium fluoride, magnesium oxide, optical absorption, Tamm-Dancoff approximation, theory
Citation
Issues
If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact [email protected].
Created May 1, 1998, Updated February 17, 2017