ELECTRONIC PROPERTIES OF PALLADIUM AND PLATINUM

Abstract

In this thesis, an at-eampt has been made to study the electronic and optical properties of the transition metals platinum and palladium. The one electron model has been used with remarkable success to study the band structure and re-lated properties of many pure crystalline metals. The vali-dity of the calculated band structure depends on the con-struction of an effective one electron crystal potential, the correctness of which can be checked by comparison with Fermi surface and optical data. The interpolation scheme proposed by Hodges, Ehrenreich and Lang and by Mueller, and modified by Smith and Mattheiss has a number of advantages over the rest. The parameters of the scheme can be chosen to reproduce Fermi surface areas as well as experimentally observed optical gaps. ...