Effect of pressure variation on structural, elastic, mechanical, optoelectronic and thermodynamic properties of SrNaF₃ fluoroperovskite

The effect of pressure variation on structural, electronic, elastic, mechanical, optical and thermodynamic characteristics of cubic SrNaF₃ fluoroperovskite have been investigated by employing first-principles method within the framework of gradient approximation (GGA). For the total energy calculations, we have used the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method. Thermodynamic properties are computed in terms of quasi-harmonic Debye model. The pressure effects are determined in the range of 0–25 GPa, in which mechanical stability of SrNaF₃ fluoroperovskite remains valid. A prominent decrease in lattice constant and bonds length is observed with the increase in pressure from 0 to 25 GPa. The effect of increase in pressure on band structure calculations with GGA and GGA plus Tran–Blaha modified Becke–Johnson (TB-mBJ) potential reveals a predominant characteristic associated with widening of bandgap. The influence of pressure on set of isotropic elastic parameters and their related properties are numerically estimated for SrNaF₃ polycrystalline aggregate. Apart of linear dependence of elastic coefficients, transition from brittle to ductile behavior is observed as pressure is increased from 0 to 25 GPa. We have successfully obtained variation of lattice constant, volume expansion, bulk modulus, Debye temperature and specific heat capacities with pressure and temperature in the range of 0–25 GPa and 0–600 K. All the calculated optical properties such as the complex dielectric function ε(ω), optical conductivity σ(ω), energy loss function L(ω), absorption coefficient α(w), refractive index n(ω), reflectivity R(ω), and effective number of electrons n _eff, via sum rules shift towards the higher energies under the application of pressure. (paper)