Electronic structure and optical properties of TbPO4: Experiment and density functional theory calculations

Abstract

Single crystals of TbPO4 were grown by high temperature solid-state reaction and identified by means of X-ray diffraction, infrared and Raman spectroscopies analysis. The electronic properties of TbPO4 such as the energy band structures, density of states were carried out using density functional theory (DFT). We have employed the LDA+U functional to treat the exchange correlation potential by solving Kohn–Sham equation. The calculated total and partial density of states indicate that the top of valance band is mainly built upon O-2p states and the bottom of the conduction band mostly originates from Tb-5d states. The population analysis indicates that the P–O bond was mainly covalent and Tb–O bond was mainly ionic. The emission spectrum, color coordinates and decay curve were employed to reveal the luminescence properties of TbPO4. Moreover, the optical properties including the dielectric function, absorption spectrum, refractive index, extinction coefficient, reflectivity and energy-loss spectrum are investigated and analyzed. The results are discussed and compared with the available experimental data.