Electronic stopping power of aluminum crystal

TL;DR

This paper presents ab initio calculations of the electronic stopping power of aluminum crystal, considering band structure and electronic response, revealing velocity-dependent effects and differences from jellium models.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed ab initio approach using linear-response theory and density functional methods to compute stopping power in aluminum crystal, accounting for band structure effects.

Findings

Band structure slightly increases stopping power at low velocities.

Stopping power just above plasmon threshold is about 10% lower than jellium predictions.

Real solid effects reduce stopping power compared to simplified models.

Abstract

Ab initio calculations of the electronic energy loss of ions moving in aluminum crystal are presented, within linear-response theory, from a realistic description of the one-electron band-structure and a full treatment of the dynamical electronic response of valence electrons. For the evaluation of the density-response function we use the random-phase approximation and, also, a time-dependent extension of local-density functional theory. We evaluate both position-dependent and random stopping powers, for a wide range of projectile velocities. Our results indicate that at low velocities band structure effects slightly enhance the stopping power. At velocities just above the threshold velocity for plasmon excitation, the stopping power of the real solid is found to be smaller than that of jellium electrons, corrections being of about 10%. This reduction can be understood from sum rule arguments.