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Correlated materials have been studied extensively using photoemission spectroscopy. Their optical properties are instead much less explored. Here we present calculations of the optical absorption spectrum of vanadium dioxide (VO2) in the framework of the Bethe-Salpeter equation (BSE) of many-body perturbation theory. In order to deal with localized electrons we go beyond the standard BSE implementation and extend it to correlated insulators. We show that it is not enough to describe the spectra on the basis of independent electron-hole pairs, even when the electron and hole are separately well described by state-of-the-art one-body Green's functions. Crystal local-field effects are crucial to explain the experimental findings, even qualitatively, and excitonic effects strongly modify the spectra, especially at their onset. In this context, as higheighted by the analysis of the BSE results, the quasi-one-dimensional nature of the vanadium-dimer chains plays a prominent role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present ab initio quasiparticle calculations for electronic excitations and the fundamental band gap of the strongly correlated transition-metal oxide CuO using the G W approximation of many-body perturbation theory. Problems related to the suitability of the method for strongly correlated materials and issues of self-consistency are addressed. We explain why quasiparticle self-consistent GW strongly overestimates the band gap of CuO. Apart from the band gap, electron addition and removal spectra in the quasiparticle approximation including lifetime and matrix-element effects are found to be in excellent agreement with the quasiparticle excitations in direct and inverse photoemission data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a scheme to calculate exciton dispersions in real materials that is based on the first-principles many-body Bethe-Salpeter equation. We assess its high level of accuracy by comparing our results for LiF with recent inelastic x-ray scattering experimental data on a wide range of energy and momentum transfer. We show its great analysis power by investigating the role of the different electron-hole interactions that determine the exciton band structure and the peculiar "exciton revival" at large momentum transfer. Our calculations for solid argon are a prediction and a suggestion for future experiments. These results demonstrate that the first-principles Bethe-Salpeter equation is able to describe the dispersion of localized and delocalized excitons on equal footing and represent a key step for the ab initio study of the exciton mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a screened exact-exchange (SXX) method for the efficient and accurate calculation of the optical properties of solids, where the screening is achieved through the zero-wave-vector limit of the inverse dielectric function. The SXX approach can be viewed as a simplification of the Bethe-Salpeter equation (BSE) or, in the context of time-dependent density-functional theory, as a first step towards a new class of hybrid functionals for the optical properties of solids. SXX performs well for bound excitons and continuum spectra in both small-gap semiconductors and large-gap insulators, with a computational cost much lower than that of the BSE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strontium titanate SrTiO3 is an extensively studied material. Of particular interest are its electronic properties. Here we present a theoretical study of its optical spectrum on the basis of state-of-the-art calculations including many-body effects. The latter are evaluated by solving the Bethe-Salpeter equation within the GW approximation for the self-energy. Excitonic effects are strong at the onset and at higher energies up to 10 eV. Agreement between theory and experiment is excellent at the onset, but only qualitative at higher energies, where excitonic effects are stronger in theory than in experiment. The origin of structures in the spectrum, as well as the remaining discrepancy between theory and experiment, are discussed. We also present benchmark results for calculations using more approximate ways to determine the spectra, including simplified time-dependent density-functional theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent Rapid Communication (J. A. Berger, L. Reining, and F Sottile, Phys. Rev. B 82,041103(R) (2010)], we presented the effective-energy technique to evaluate, in an accurate and numerically efficient manner, electronic excitations by reformulating spectral sum-over-states expressions such that only occupied states appear. In our approach all the empty states are accounted for by a single effective energy that can be obtained from first principles. In this work we provide further details of the effective-energy technique, in particular, when combined with the GW method, in which a huge summation over empty states appears in the calculation of both the screened Coulomb interaction and the self-energy. We also give further evidence of the numerical accuracy ol the effective-energy technique by applying it to the technological important materials SnO2 and ZnO. Finally, we use this technique to predict the band gap of bulk rubrene, an organic molecular crystal with a 140-atom unit cell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The photoemission spectrum of graphite is still debated. To help resolve this issue, we present photoemission measurements at high photon energy and analyze the results using a Green's function approach that takes into account the full complexity of the loss spectrum. Our measured data show multiple satellite replicas. We demonstrate that these satellites are of intrinsic origin, enhanced by extrinsic losses. The dominating satellite is due to the π + σ plasmon of graphite, whereas the π plasmon creates a tail on the high-binding energy side of the quasiparticle peak. The interplay between the two plasmons leads to energy shifts, broadening, and additional peaks in the satellite spectrum. We also predict the spectral changes in the transition from graphite towards graphene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding and controlling the way excitons propagate in solids is a key for tailoring materials with improved optoelectronic properties. A fundamental step in this direction is the determination of the exciton energy-momentum dispersion. Here, thanks to the solution of the parameter-free Bethe-Salpeter equation (BSE), we draw and explain the exciton energy-momentum map of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) in the first three Brillouin zones. We show that h-BN displays strong excitonic effects not only in the optical spectra at vanishing momentum q, as previously reported, but also at large q. We validate our theoretical predictions by assessing the calculated exciton map by means of an inelastic x-ray scattering (IXS) experiment. Moreover, we solve the discrepancies between previous experimental data and calculations, proving then that the BSE is highly accurate through the whole momentum range. Therefore, these results put forward the combination BSE and IXS as the tool of choice for addressing the exciton dynamics in complex materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]