Theoretical studies based on first-principles theory are presented for a number of different magnetic systems. The first part of the thesis concerns spin dynamics and the second part concerns properties of magnetic multilayers. The theoretical treatment is based on electronic structure calculations performed by means of density functional theory. A method is developed for simulating atomistic spin dynamics at finite temperatures, which is based on solving the equations of motion for the atomic spins by means of Langevin dynamics. The method relies on a mapping of the interatomic exchange interactions from density functional theory to a Heisenberg Hamiltonian. Simulations are performed for various magnetic systems and processes beyond the reach of conventional micromagnetism. As an example, magnetization dynamics in the limit of large magnetic and anisotropy fields is explored. Moreover, the method is applied to studying the dynamics of systems with complex atomic order such as the diluted magnetic semiconductor MnGaAs and the spin glass alloy CuMn. The method is also applied to a Fe thin film and a Fe/Cr/Fe trilayer system, where the limits of ultrafast switching are explored. Current induced magnetization dynamics is investigated by calculating the current induced spin-transfer torque by means of density functional theory combined with the relaxation time approximation and semi-classical Boltzmann theory. The current induced torque is calculated for the helical spin-density waves in Er and fcc Fe, where the current is found to promote a rigid rotation of the magnetic order. Properties of magnetic multilayers composed of magnetic and nonmagnetic layers are investigated by means of the Korringa-Kohn-Rostocker interface Green's function method. Multilayer properties such as magnetic moments, interlayer exchange coupling and ordering temperatures are calculated and compared with experiments, with focus on understanding the influence of interface quality. Moreover, the influence on the interlayer exchange coupling of alloying the nonmagnetic spacer layers with small amounts of a magnetic impurity is investigated.

The subject of the present thesis is theoretical first principles electronic structure calculations on designer hard materials such as the transition metal carbides and oxides. The theoretical investigations have been made in close collaboration with experimental research and have addressed both bulk electronic properties and surface electronic properties of the materials. Among the bulk studies are investigations on the effects of substoichiometry on the relative phase stabilities and the electronic structure of several phases of MoC and the nature of the resulting vacancy peaks. The changes in phase stabilities and homo-geneity ranges in the group IV to VI transition metal carbides have been studied and explained, from calculations of the T=0 energies of formation and cohesive energies. The anomalous volume behavior and phase stabilities in substoichiometric TiC was studied including effects of local relaxations around the vacancy sites. The vacancy ordering problem in this compound was also studied by a combination of electronic structure calculations and statistical physics. The studies of the surface electronic properties include research on the surface energies and work functions of the transition metal carbides and an investigation on the segregation of transition metal impurities on the TiC (100) surface. Theoretical studies with the aim to facilitate the realization of novel designer hard materials were made, among these a survey of means of stabilizing potentially super-hard cubic RuO2, studying the effects of alloying, substoichiometry and lattice strains. A mechanism for enhancing hardness in the industrially important hard transition metal carbides and nitrides, from the discovery of multi-phase/polytypic alloys, has also been predicted from theoretical calculations.

No description available.

This thesis presents and uses the techniques of computational chemistry to explore two different processes induced in human skin by ultraviolet light. The first is the transformation of urocanic acid into a immunosuppressing agent, and the other is the enzymatic action of the 8-oxoguanine glycosylase enzyme. The photochemistry of urocanic acid is investigated by time-dependent density functional theory. Vertical absorption spectra of the molecule in different forms and environments is assigned and candidate states for the photochemistry at different wavelengths are identified. Molecular dynamics simulations of urocanic acid in gas phase and aqueous solution reveals considerable flexibility under experimental conditions, particularly for for the cis isomer where competition between intra- and inter-molecular interactions increases flexibility. A model to explain the observed gas phase photochemistry of urocanic acid is developed and it is shown that a reinterpretation in terms of a mixture between isomers significantly enhances the agreement between theory and experiment , and resolves several peculiarities in the spectrum. A model for the photochemistry in the aqueous phase of urocanic acid is then developed, in which two excited states governs the efficiency of photoisomerization. The point of entrance into a conical intersection seam is shown to explain the wavelength dependence of photoisomerization quantum yield. Finally some mechanistic aspects of the DNA repair enzyme 8-oxoguanine glycosylase is investigated with density functional theory. It is found that the critical amino acid of the active site can provide catalytic power in several different manners, and that a recent proposal involving a SN1 type of mechanism seems the most efficient one.

Ordinary yet unique, water is the substance on which life is based. Water seems, at first sight, to be a very simple molecule, consisting of two hydrogen atoms attached to one oxygen. Its small size belies the complexity of its action and its numerous anomalies, central to a broad class of important phenomena, ranging from global current circulation, terrestrial water and CO2 cycles to corrosion and wetting. The explanation of this complex behavior comes from water's unique ability to form extensive three-dimensional networks of hydrogen-bonds, whose nature and structures, in spite of a great deal of efforts involving a plethora of experimental and theoretical techniques, still lacks a complete scientific understanding. This thesis is devoted to the study of the local structure of hydrogen-bonded liquids, with a particular emphasis on water, taking advantage of a combination of core-level spectroscopies and density functional theory spectra calculations. X-ray absorption, in particular, is found to be sensitive to the local hydrogen-bond environment, thus offering a very promising tool for spectroscopic identification of specific structural configurations in water, alcohols and aqueous solutions. More specifically, the characteristic spectroscopic signature of the broken hydrogen-bond at the hydrogen side is used to analyze the structure of bulk water, leading to the finding that most molecules are arranged in two hydrogen-bond configurations, in contrast to the picture provided by molecular dynamics simulations. At the liquid-vapor interface, an interplay of surface sensitive measurements and theoretical calculations enables us to distinguish a new interfacial species in equilibrium with the gas. In a similar approach the cluster form of the excess proton in highly concentrated acid solutions and the different coordination of methanol at the vacuum interface and in the bulk can also be clearly identified. Finally the ability of core-level spectroscopies, aided by sophisticated density functional theory calculations, to directly probe the valence electronic structure of a system is used to observe the nature of the interaction between water molecules and solvated ions in solution. Water around transition metal ions is found to interact with the solute via orbital mixing with the metal d-orbitals. The hydrogen-bond between water molecules is explained in terms of electrostatic interactions enhanced by charge rehybridization in which charge transfer between connecting molecules is shown to be fundamental.

The present thesis deals with the application of ab-initio electronic structure calculations based on density functional theory for material design. The correlation between magnetic properties and electronic structures has been investigated in detail for diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMS), which have promising application for spintronics devices. The point defects, acting as electron donor or electron acceptor, have been studied for their key role in mediating the long ranged ferromagnetic interaction between transition metal (TM) ions. The electron holes induced by electron acceptor are completely spin polarized in semiconductor and exhibit a very significant efficiency to the ferromagnetic coupling between TM ions. While the electron donor shows a negative effect to the ferromagnetism in the system. The common trend of magnetic interaction and electron charge transfer between TM ions and electron acceptors or electron donators have been outlined. The Coulomb correlation U of d electrons, which could change the energy levels of TM d band respective to the host semiconductor band, also shows a significant influence on the magnetic behavior in DMS. The crystallography phase transition under high pressure has also been studied for the iron doped with light element, carbon. Our calculated results show that interstitial carbon defect has little effect on the iron's bcc to hcp phase transition under high pressure. The other carbon iron phases, like Fe3C, has also been studied in a wide pressure range. We also present a first-principles description on the temperature dependence of elastic constant for solids. The total temperature effects are approximated as a sum of two separated parts, the thermal expansion contribution, which gives the normal linearly decreasing effect on the elastic constant with increasing temperature, and the electronic band contribution, which could lead anomalous behavior for thermal elastic constants.

The electronic and geometrical structure of free neutral clusters and liquids have been studied using synchrotron-radiation based photoelectron and Auger electron spectroscopy in combination with lineshape modeling. A novel experimental setup has been developed for studies of liquids, based on the liquid microjet technique. Theoretical lineshapes have been computed using both classical (molecular dynamics) and quantum mechanical (mainly density functional theory) methods. Clusters are finite ensembles of atoms or molecules, ranging in size from a few to several thousand atoms. Apart from being fundamentally interesting, clusters are also promising as building blocks for nano-technology. In this thesis results are presented for rare-gas and molecular clusters, ranging from weakly van-deer-Waals bonded to hydrogen bonded. It is shown that the combination of core-level photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and lineshape modeling can be used to estimate the sizes of clusters. A model for treating the effect of inter-molecular nuclear relaxation upon ionization is proposed. The structure of single-component molecular clusters are investigated by molecular dynamics simulations, validated against XPS data. Finally, the radial structure of a two-component molecular cluster is investigated by XPS. Liquids have been studied for centuries, but still many questions remain regarding the microscopic properties. With the recent development of the liquid microjet technique, new insight into the atomic structure can be obtained. In this thesis we study aqueous solutions using photoelectron and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). We investigate the structure of surface active molecules by XPS, study the Auger decay after core-level ionization in aqueous potassium chloride (KCl), and follow the changes in molecular structure of glycine as a function of pH.

Time-dependent density functional theory calculations have been carried out to determine the complex first-order hyperpolarizability in the two-photon resonance region of the molecule IDS-Cab. Calculations show that three strongly absorbing states, in the ultraviolet region, are separated to the extent that no significant interference of the imaginary parts of the tensor elements of the first-order hyper-polarizability occurs. Consequently, and in contrast to experimental findings [27], no reduced imaginary parts of the first-order hyperpolarizability in the two-photon resonant region can be seen.

Quantum chemistry has nowadays become a powerful and efficient tool that can be successfully used for studies of biosystems. It is therefore possibleto model the enzyme active-site and the reactions undergoing into it, as well as obtaining quite accurate energetic profiles. Important conclusions can be drawn from such profiles about the  plausibility of different putative mechanisms. Density Functional Theory is used in the present thesis for investigation of the catalytic mechanism of dioxygenase metallo-enzymes and synthetic model complexes. Three enzymes were studied – Homoprotocatechuate 2,3-dioxygenase isolated from Brevibacterium fuscum (Bf 2,3-HPCD), Manganese-Dependent Homoprotocatechuate 2,3-Dioxygenase (MndD) and Homogentisate Dioxygenase (HGD). Models consisting of 55 to 208 atoms have been built from X-ray crystal structures and used in the calculations. The computed energies were put in energy curves and were used for estimation of the feasibility of the suggested reaction mechanisms. A non-heme [(L4Me4)Fe(III)]+3 complex that mimics the reactivity of intradiol dioxygenases, and a heme [T(o-Cl)PPFe] complex catalyzing the stepwise oxidation of cyclohexane to adipic acid, were also studied. For the enzymes and the non-heme biomimetic complex the reaction was found to follow a mechanism that was previously suggested for extradiol and intradiol dioxygenases – ordered substrates binding and formation of peroxo species, which further undergoes homolytic O-O bond cleavage. Different reaction steps appear to be rate limiting in the particular cases: proton transfer from the substrate to the peroxide in Bf 2,3-HPCD, the formation of the peroxo bridge in HGD and the biomimetic complex, and notably, spin transition in MndD. The catalytic oxidation of cyclohexane to adipic acid in the presence of molecular oxygen as oxidant was studied, a reaction of great importance for the chemical industry. Reaction mechanism is suggested, involving several consecutive oxidative steps. The highest calculated enthalpy of activation is 17.8 kcal/mol for the second oxidative step. / At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: In progress, Paper 5: In progress

The properties of dilute magnetic semiconductors have been studied by combined ab initio, Monte Carlo, and experimental techniques. This class of materials could be very important for future spintronic devices, that offer enriched functionality by making use of both the spin and the charge of the electrons. The main part of the thesis concerns the transition metal doped ZnO. The role of defects on the magnetic interactions in Mn-doped ZnO was investigated. In the presence of acceptor defects such as zinc vacancies and oxygen substitution by nitrogen, the magnetic interactions are ferromagnetic. For dilute concentrations of Mn (~ 5%) the ordering temperature of the system is low, due to the short ranged character of the exchange interactions and disorder effects. The clustering tendency of the Co atoms in a ZnO matrix was also studied. The electronic structure, and in turn the magnetic interactions among the Co atoms, is strongly dependent on the exchange-correlation functional used. It is found that Co impurities tend to form nanoclusters and that the interactions among these atoms are antiferromagnetic within the local spin density approximation + Hubbard U approach. The electronic structure, as well as the chemical and magnetic interactions in Co and (Co,Al)-doped ZnO, was investigated by joined experimental and theoretical techniques. For a good agreement between the two, approximations beyond the local density approximation must be used. It is found that the Co atoms prefer to cluster within the semiconducting matrix, a tendency which is increased with Al co-doping. We envision that it is best to describe the system as superparamagnetic due to the formation of  Co nanoclusters within which the interactions are antiferromagnetic. The magnetic anisotropy and evolution of magnetic domains in Fe81Ni19/Co(001) superlattices were investigated both experimentally, as well as using model spin dynamics. A magnetic reorientation transition was found.