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PHONON, Version 2.11


Last update: January 25, 2000
Phonon is a software for calculating phonon dispersion curves, and phonon density spectra of crystals from either a set of force constants, or from a set of Hellmann-Feynman forces calculated within an ab initio (external) program. Phonon builds a crystal structure, using one of the 230 crystallographic space groups, finds the neighbor list and the symmetry of force constant matrices. It builds the dynamical matrix, diagonalizes it, and calculates the phonon dispersion relations along any line of the reciprocal space. Phonon finds the polarization vectors, and the irreducible representations of the phonon modes at Brillouin zone center, and calculates the total and partial phonon density of states. Such calculations are done for neighbor list with any coordination shells, or within any supercell with periodic boundary conditions. For polar cystals the LO/TO mode splitting can be included.
In unstable structures Phonon finds soft modes. Therefore, it can be used to search for the stability of structures, and for phase transitions. The program allows to calculate phonons for model with atoms of reduced number of degree of freedom, and/or for models consisting of rigid molecules. Within the supercell approach it permittes to calculate the ab initio phonons for bulk crystals, surfaces, films, crystal with vacancies, substitutional and interstitial impuritues, etc.
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