Electronic structure and related properties of metallic glasses: Linear muffin-tin orbital approach

We describe various aspects of electronic structure calculation for amorphous metals using the linear muffin-tin orbital (LMTO) scheme. We discuss calculations of the magnetic properties within the framework of multiple scattering formalism assuming collinear magnetic structure and using the linear muffin-tin orbital Green’s function method. Results for the effective exchange coupling parameters and local magnetic moments for amorphous Fe and Co are discussed with special emphasis on the dependence of these quantities on the local and global features of the structure. A method of calculating the electronic transport properties in transition metal glasses, based on the LMTO-recursion method and the Kubo-Greenwood formula, is presented. The practical limitations of the method and the ways to overcome them are briefly discussed. This article is based on a presentation made in the “Structure and Properties of Bulk Amorphous Alloys” Symposium as part of the 1997 Annual Meeting of TMS at Orlando, Florida, February 10–11, 1997, under the auspices of the TMS-EMPMD/SMD Alloy Phases and MDMD Solidification Committees, the ASM-MSD Thermodynamics and Phase Equilibria, and Atomic Transport Committees, and sponsorship by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Los Alamos National Laboratory.