Lattice Dynamics of Alkali Halide Crystals. III. Theoretical

Abstract

The "shell model" of an alkali halide is extended to take into account short-range forces between both first- and second-nearest neighbor atoms in the crystal, the polarizability of both ions, and the possibility that the ionic charge may be less than one electronic charge. The arbitrary parameters of the model have been obtained by means of a least-squares fit to the measured dispersion relations for the lattice vibrations, the dielectric constants, and the elastic constants. For NaI and KBr, models have been found which give excellent agreement both with these measurements and with measurements of the specific heat. This good agreement is, however, obtained only when the simple shell-model concept of the ions is to some extent abandoned. The reasons for this, and the connection with work of other authors, are discussed.