Energy Bands in Body-Centered and Hexagonal Sodium

Abstract
The band structures of both the body-centered cubic and the hexagonal close-packed phases of sodium have been computed using a pseudopotential method. The pseudopotential parameters were obtained from spectroscopic data for the free sodium atom. The Fermi surface is nearly spherical in both phases, with the maximum distortion being of the order of ¼%. Within the accuracy of the calculation, the Fermi energy and effective mass are the same in the two phases.