Problem with dipole moment correction for a slab

[ymantz]

Dear Support,

Recently, I computed the energy of an unrelaxed 12-layer slab or surface model for the LaMnO3 (001) surface as a function of vacuum region size, without and with a dipole moment correction. I believe that the results with the dipole moment correction are not correct, and I would like your help to obtain the correct results.

The surface model can be represented as (LaO-MnO_2)_6. Thus, it has a net dipole moment along the surface normal. The energy of the surface model should converge very quickly as a function of vacuum region size with the dipole moment correction (https://www.vasp.at/wiki/index.php/Mono ... orrections). However, it actually converges more slowly with the correction at vacuum regions below 42 Å and at a similar rate at vacuum regions above 42 Å (see the attached .jpg file).

According to the VASP manual, for a surface model oriented perpendicularly to the third lattice vector, the dipole moment correction is made by setting IDIPOL = 3
(https://www.vasp.at/wiki/index.php/Mono ... orrections). I believe that my computational setup is correct, and the fact that the energy of the 12-layer surface model is slow to converge with the dipole moment correction is puzzling.

The VASP input and output files, the .jpg file of results referred to above, and a file READ_ME providing a description of all the files are included in the attached .zip file.
The slowly converging energy of the surface model with the dipole moment correction is a technical issue that is not covered in the VASP manual and, I believe,
is not addressed in previous VASP forum posts. Thus, I am asking the VASP team to help me to resolve this issue. Thanks for considering this issue, and I’ll wait to hear from you.

Sincerely,

Yves