TY - JOUR KW - paper AU - Olevano V AU - EL Shirley AU - Stefan Albrecht AU - Chelikowsky JR AU - SG Louie AU - Lucia Reining AU - G Martinez AB - We discuss the current status of a computational approach which allows to evaluate the dielectric matrix, and hence electronic excitations like optical properties, including local field and excitonic effects. We introduce a recent numerical development which greatly reduces the use of memory in such type of calculations, and hence eliminates one of the bottlenecks for the application to complex systems. We present recent applications of the method, focusing our interest on insulating oxides. BT - Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. CY - 506 KEYSTONE DRIVE, WARRENDALE, PA 15088-7563 USA N1 - Symposium on the Optical Properties of Materials at the 1999 MRS Fall Meeting, BOSTON, MA, NOV 30-DEC 02, 1999 N2 - We discuss the current status of a computational approach which allows to evaluate the dielectric matrix, and hence electronic excitations like optical properties, including local field and excitonic effects. We introduce a recent numerical development which greatly reduces the use of memory in such type of calculations, and hence eliminates one of the bottlenecks for the application to complex systems. We present recent applications of the method, focusing our interest on insulating oxides. PB - Mat Res Soc PP - 506 KEYSTONE DRIVE, WARRENDALE, PA 15088-7563 USA PY - 2000 SN - 1-55899-487-4 SP - 9 EP - 19 T2 - Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. TI - Ab initio calculations of response properties including the electron-hole interaction VL - 579 ER -