Local Heine-Abarenkov Potential of Alkali Metals

Abstract

A local Heine-Abarenkov model potential satisfying the energy minimum condition of the crystal is presented for alkali metals. The remaining parameter is determined from the first zero of the original pseudopotential by Animalu and Heine themselves using the atomic energy levels from spectroscopic data. The local Heine-Abarenkov potential obtained is noticeably different for Li from the previous models. Then, the crystal energy, pressure and bulk modulus of alkali metals are calculated and compared with the results of the previous models by other workers. The third order contributions are also investigated, and their effects are not negligible but small for alkali metals except Li.