Valence-electron distribution in MgB2 by accurate diffraction measurements and first-principles calculations

We use synchrotron x-ray and precision electron-diffraction techniques to determine accurately the structure factors of reflections that are sensitive to the valence-electron distribution in the superconductor MgB2 . These values deviate significantly from those calculated using the scattering facto...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Wu, Lijun, Zhu, Yimei, Su, Haibin, Vogt, T., Tafto, J., Davenport, James W.
Other Authors: School of Materials Science & Engineering
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/92217
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/6933
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
Description
Summary:We use synchrotron x-ray and precision electron-diffraction techniques to determine accurately the structure factors of reflections that are sensitive to the valence-electron distribution in the superconductor MgB2 . These values deviate significantly from those calculated using the scattering factors of free (or neutral) atoms, but agree well with our calculated structure factors based on density-functional theory. Having experimentally established the reliability of our first-principles-based structure factors, we present electron-density maps of the redistribution of the valence electrons that takes place when hypothetical free atoms of Mg and B in MgB2 interact to form the real crystal.