Category:NMR: Difference between revisions

Density-functional theory (DFT) can be used to calculate various nuclear properties of a crystal measurable through nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and associated methods. In the Projector Augmented Wave (PAW) approach, a frozen core approximation is used. The Kohn-Sham (KS) states near the nucleus are correctly described using all-electron (AE) partial waves.

Chemical shielding

The chemical shift δ is a property that describes the shielding of an applied, external magnetic field B felt by a nucleus with non-zero spin. The chemical shift is the difference in chemical shielding σ relative to a reference σ_ref.

${\displaystyle \delta_{ij} = \sigma_{ij}^{\mathrm{ref}} - \sigma_{ij} }$

The chemical shielding tensor can be calculated using the Gauge-Including PAW (GIPAW) method, using the LCHIMAG tag ^[1][2]. The chemical shielding is calculated via the induced current (cf. WRT_NMRCUR) ^[1][2] and has contributions from the plane-wave grid and one-center contributions (the induced field at the center of a PAW sphere due to the augmentation current inside that sphere). These are for individual atoms and exclude the contribution due to the augmentation currents in other PAW spheres. If two-center terms are important, e.g. for H, then they should be included using LLRAUG ^[3][4].

Learn how to perform a chemical shielding calculation.

Magnetic susceptibility

The macroscopic magnetic susceptibility ${\displaystyle \chi}$ is the degree of magnetization of a material in response to an applied magnetic field ^[5].

${\displaystyle \textbf{B}_{\textrm{in}}^{(1)}(\textbf{G}=0) = \frac{8 \pi}{3} \chi \textbf{B} }$

where ${\displaystyle \textbf{B}}$ is the external magnetic field and ${\displaystyle \textbf{B}_{\textrm{in}}^{(1)}}$ is the induced magnetic field.

The orbital magnetic susceptibility is calculated via a finite-differences approach, where a key variable Q_ij is approximated in two ways. The so-called pGv-approximation is used by default ^[2], where p is momentum, v is velocity, and G is a Green's function. An alternative approach, the vGv-approximation is available to calculate the susceptibility ^[6], which can be switched off using LVGVCALC. With LVGVAPPL one can force VASP to use the vGv result for the ${\displaystyle \mathbf{G=0}}$ contribution instead of the pGv used as default. With LVGVCALC one can suppress the calculation of the vGv magnetic susceptibility.

Like the chemical shielding, the magnetic susceptibility is calculated by linear response using LCHIMAG ^[1][2], so they will both be shown in the same OUTCAR file.

Learn how to perform a magnetic susceptibility calculation.

Quadrupolar nuclei - electric field gradient

Nuclei with I > ± ½ have an electronic quadrupolar moment. This means that, at the nucleus, there is a non-zero electric field gradient (EFG) V_ij, i.e. the rate of change of the electric field with respect to position is non-zero:

${\displaystyle V_{ij} = \frac{\partial^2 V}{\partial x_i \partial x_j} }$

where V is the electrostatic potential generated by the charge distribution of electrons and nuclei.

V_ij comes from the quadrupolar nuclei, which are non-spherical and therefore generate a non-uniform electric charge distribution. The electric quadrupolar moment couples with the EFG and so the chemical enviornment of the nucleus may be probed using nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) ^[7]. The EFG is not directly measurable but the nuclear quadrupolar coupling constant C_q is, defined as:

${\displaystyle C_q = \frac{eQV_{zz}}{h} }$

where e is the charge of an electron, Q is the isotope-specific quadrupole moment, and h is the Planck constant.

The EFG can be calculated using LEFG ^[8], which also calculates C_q so long as Q are defined using QUAD_EFG.

Learn how to perform an electric field gradient calculation.

Hyperfine coupling

As well as the nuclei, electrons also have spin. Analogously to the nuclei, unpaired electrons can interact with B_ext to provide information about their environment. The interaction between the electron's magnetic moment and the magnetic dipole moment of the nucleus (i.e. electron spin-nuclear spin interaction) split otherwise degenerate energy levels. This splitting is known as hyperfine splitting.

In most stable systems, all electrons are paired together, spin-up and spin-down, resulting in overall no spin. If a system has unpaired electrons, e.g. radicals, metal oxides, defects, then these unpaired electrons can be used to investigate these unusual systems, e.g. using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) ^[9].

The hyperfine tensor A^I describes the interaction between a nuclear spin S^I and the electronic spin distribution S^e (in most cases associated with a paramagnetic defect state):

${\displaystyle E=\sum_{ij} S^e_i A^I_{ij} S^I_j }$

The hyperfine tensor can be calculated using LHYPERFINE ^[10].

Learn how to perform a hyperfine coupling calculation.

References