Path-integral molecular dynamics simulation of diamond

Diamond is studied by path-integral molecular dynamics simulations of the atomic nuclei in combination with a tight-binding Hamiltonian to describe its electronic structure and total energy. This approach allows us to quantify the influence of quantum zero-point vibrations and finite temperatures on both the electronic and vibrational properties of diamond. The electron-phonon coupling mediated by the zero-point vibration reduces the direct electronic gap of diamond by 10%. The calculated decrease of the direct gap with temperature shows good agreement with the experimental data available up to 7000.3em0exK. Anharmonic vibrational frequencies of the crystal have been obtained from a linear-response approach based on the path integral formalism. In particular, the temperature dependence of the zone-center optical phonon has been derived from the simulations. The anharmonicity of the interatomic potential produces a red shift of this phonon frequency. At temperatures above 5000.3em0exK, this shift is overestimated in comparison to available experimental data. The predicted temperature shift of the elastic constant c₄₄ displays reasonable agreement with the available experimental results.