Abstract

The infrared and nonresonant Raman spectra of YF₃ have been studied within the framework of density functional perturbation theory. We report the calculated frequencies of three Raman active modes and one IR active mode that could not be detected experimentally. The valence and conduction band structure of YF₃ have been calculated, using density functional theory. A good agreement between the calculated valence band width and experimental result was obtained, and an indirect energy gap of 7.58 eV is estimated in the local density approximation.