OPTICAL-PROPERTIES OF PRAG UNDER PRESSURE

We present interband optical conductivity and oscillator strength calc ulations of PrAg within the linear muffin-tin orbital formalism in the atomic sphere approximation. We have compared the optical spectra for both the ferromagnetic and paramagnetic phases at normal pressure and found that exchange interaction has considerable influence on its opt ical properties, thereby ascertaining the ferromagnetic nature of PrAg . The oscillator strength or the transition probability plays a vital role in determining the magnitude and position of the peaks in the opt ical spectrum. Application of pressure decreases the optical conductiv ity at 0.4 Ryd but the crucial peak at around 0.04 Ryd is displaced to 0.08 Ryd with reduced magnitude. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physi cs. [S0021-8979(98)01216-X].