orthogonalized plane-wave method

orthogonalized plane-wave method

[ȯr¦thäg·ən·əl‚īzd ′plān ‚wāv ‚meth·əd]

(solid-state physics)

A method of approximating the energy states of electrons in a crystal lattice: trial wave functions (the orthogonalized plane waves) are constructed which are linear combinations of plane waves and Bloch functions based on core states, and which are orthogonal to the Bloch functions, and linear combinations of these trial functions are then determined by the variational method. Abbreviated OPW method.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.