Interaction energies of impurities in Cu and Ni

Abstract
We present systematic local-density-functional calculations for the interaction energies of 3d and 4sp impurities (Sc–Br) with vacancies in Cu and Ni crystals. We apply the Kohn-Korringa-Rostoker Green’s-function method and evaluate the full anisotropic charge density. The interaction energies are obtained by total-energy calculations and by a newly derived formula based on the Hellmann-Feynman theorem. Both methods agree very well and confirm the experimentally known trends.