Simplicity Out of Complexity: Band Structure for W20O58 Superconductor.

Abstract

The band structure, density of states, and the Fermi surface of a recently discovered superconductor, oxygen-deficient tungsten oxide WO that is equivalent to WO, is studied within the density functional theory (DFT) in the generalized gradient approximation (GGA). Here we show that despite the extremely complicated structure containing 78 atoms in the unit cell, the low-energy band structure is quite feasible. Fermi level is crossed by no more than 10 bands per one spin projection (and even 9 bands per pseudospin projection when the spin-orbit coupling is considered) originating from the t 5d-orbitals of tungsten atoms forming zigzag chains. These bands become occupied because of the specific zigzag octahedra distortions. To demonstrate the role of distortions, we compare band structures of WO with the real crystal structure and with the idealized one. We also propose a basis for a minimal low-energy tight-binding model for WO.