The self-interaction corrected local spin density (SIC-LSD) formalism and the standard GGA treatment of the exchange-correlation energy have been applied to study the collapse of the magnetic moment of Fe impurities in MgO. The system Mg_{1-x}Fe_xO i
s believed to be the second most abundant mineral in the Earths lower mantle. We confirm the experimentally found increase of the critical pressure upon iron concentration. Our calculations using standard GGA for a fixed Fe concentration show that different arrangements of Fe atoms can remarkably shift the transition pressure of the high spin (HS) to low spin (LS) transition. This could explain the experimentally found broad transition regions. Our results indicate that the HS-LS transition in Mg$_{1-x}Fe_xO is first order. We find that SIC-LSD fails to predict the divalent Fe configuration as the lowest energy configuration and discuss possible reasons for it.
We apply the self-interaction corrected local spin density %(SIC-LSD) approximation to study the electronic structure and magnetic properties of the spinel ferrites MnFe$_{2}$O$_{4}$, Fe$_{3}$O$_{4}$, CoFe$_{2}$O$_{4}$, and NiFe$_{2}$O$_{4}$. We conc
entrate on establishing the nominal valence of the transition metal elements and the ground state structure, based on the study of various valence scenarios for both the inverse and normal spinel structures for all the systems. For both structures we find all the studied compounds to be insulating, but with smaller gaps in the normal spinel scenario. On the contrary, the calculated spin magnetic moments and the exchange splitting of the conduction bands are seen to increase dramatically when moving from the inverse spinel structure to the normal spinel kind. We find substantial orbital moments for NiFe$_{2}$O$_{4}$ and CoFe$_{2}$O$_{4}$.
The electronic and magnetic properties of ferromagnetic doped manganites are investigated by means of model tight-binding and textit{ab initio} self-interaction corrected local spin density approximation calculations. It is found that the surface alo
ne by breaking the cubic symmetry induces a difference in the occupation of the two $e_{g}$ orbitals at the surface. With textit{ab initio} calculations we found surface localisation of one orbital and hence a change in the Mn valency from four in the bulk to three at the sub-surface. Different surface or disordered interface induced localisation of the orbitals are considered too with respect to the nature and the strength of the magnetic exchange coupling between the surface/interface and the bulk-like region.
We present a total energy study as a function of volume in the cubic phase of LaMnO$_{3}$. A charge disproportionated state into planes of Mn$^{3+}$O$_{2}$/Mn$^{4+}$O$_{2}$ was found. It is argued that the pressure driven localisation/delocalisation
transition might go smoothly through a region of Mn$^{3+}$ and Mn$^{4+}$ coexistence.
The electronic structure of some europium chalcogenides and pnictides is calculated using the {it ab-initio} self-interaction corrected local-spin-density approximation (SIC-LSD). This approach allows both a localised description of the rare earth $f
-$electrons and an itinerant description of $s$, $p$ and $d$-electrons. Localising different numbers of $f$-electrons on the rare earth atom corresponds to different nominal valencies, and the total energies can be compared, providing a first-principles description of valency. All the chalcogenides are found to be insulators in the ferromagnetic state and to have a divalent configuration. For the pnictides we find that EuN is half-metallic and the rest are normal metals. However a valence change occurs as we go down the pnictide column of the Periodic Table. EuN and EuP are trivalent, EuAs is only just trivalent and EuSb is found to be divalent. Our results suggest that these materials may find application in spintronic and spin filtering devices.
We present the self-interaction corrected local spin density (SIC-LSD) electronic structure and total energy calculations, leading also to valencies of the ground state configurations, for the half-metallic double perovskites such as Sr$_{2}$FeMoO$_{
6}$, Ba$_{2}$FeMoO$_{6}$, Ca$_{2}$FeMoO$_{6}$, and Ca$_{2}$FeReO$_{6}$. We conclude that the Fe and Mo (or Re) spin magnetic moments are anti-parallel aligned, and the magnitude of the hybridization induced moment on Mo does not vary much between the different compounds. The hybridization spin magnetic moment on Re is of the order of -1.1 $mu_{B}$, while that on Mo is about -0.4 $mu_{B}$, independently of the alkaline earth element. Also the electronic structure of all the compounds studied is very similar, with a well defined gap in the majority spin component and metallic density of states for the minority spin component, with highly hybridized Fe, Mo (or Re), and oxygen bands.
