RASCBEC: Raman spectroscopy calculation via born effective charge

Abstract

We present a reformulated algorithm for ab initio calculations of Raman spectra for large systems by applying an external electric field, and complement it by a code implementation we name RASCBEC. With the RASCBEC code, we have successfully benchmark crystalline materials and compute Raman spectra of large molecules, and amorphous oxides. Our results demonstrate a remarkable level of agreement with the results from other commonly used codes as well as the experimental data. The electric field approach for Raman spectra calculation is designed to overcome the computational challenges associated with the conventional method, which requires calculating the macroscopic dielectric tensor at numerous molecular geometries. This approach is favored because it can significantly reduce computational time. We reformulated this method by obtaining the Raman intensity from the first-order derivative of the Born Effective Charge (BEC), which is computed directly from vasp (the Vienna Ab Initio Simulation Package). This differs from other electric field-based methods that calculate Raman intensities as the second-order derivative of force with respect to the electric field. By reducing the order of derivatives, we can avoid numerical noise and accuracy concerns. Additionally, since forces are often very small numbers, taking the derivative of BEC is numerically more stable, allowing our method to be applied to a broader range of material parameters. This advantage makes RASCBEC particularly beneficial for large molecules and extensive amorphous systems.