First-principles calculations are performed to investigate f magnetism in A2Ti2O7 (A=Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Yb) magnetic pyrochlore oxides. The Hubbard U parameter and the relativistic spin orbit correction is applied for more accurate description of the electronic structure of the systems. It is argued that the main obstacle for first-principles study of these systems is the multi-minima solutions of their electronic configuration. Among the studied pyrochlores, Gd2Ti2O7 shows the least multi-minima problem. The crystal electric field theory is applied for phenomenological comparison of the calculated spin and orbital moments with the experimental data.
@article{arxiv.1502.01814,
title = {First-principles insights into f magnetism, a case study on some magnetic pyrochlores},
author = {Najmeh Deilynazar and Elham Khorasani and Mojtaba Alaei and S. Javad Hashemifar},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1502.01814},
year = {2015}
}