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DOE OSTI2022

Interaction-expansion inchworm Monte Carlo solver for lattice and impurity models

Multiorbital quantum impurity models with general interaction and hybridization terms appear in a wide range of applications, including embedding, quantum transport, and nanoscience. However, most quantum impurity solvers are restricted to a few impurity orbitals, discretized baths, diagonal hybridizations, or density-density interactions. We generalize the inchworm quantum Monte Carlo method to the interaction expansion, and we explore its application to typical single- and multiorbital problems encountered in investigations of impurity and lattice models. Our implementation generically outperforms bare and bold-line quantum Monte Carlo algorithms in the interaction expansion. For the systems studied here, our implementation remains inferior to the more specialized hybridization expansion and auxiliary field algorithms. So, the problem of convergence to unphysical fixed points, which hampers so-called bold-line methods, is not encountered in inchworm Monte Carlo.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2024

Adaptive time stepping for the two-time integro-differential Kadanoff-Baym equations

The nonequilibrium Green's function gives access to one-body observables for quantum systems. Of particular interest are quantities such as density, currents, and absorption spectra which are important for interpreting experimental results in quantum transport and spectroscopy. We present an integration scheme for the Green's function's equations of motion, the Kadanoff-Baym equations (KBE), which is both adaptive in the time integrator step size and method order as well as the history integration order. We analyze the importance of solving the KBE self-consistently and show that adapting the order of history integral evaluation is important for obtaining accurate results. To examine the efficiency of our method, we compare runtimes to a state-of-the-art fixed time step integrator for several test systems and show an order of magnitude speedup at similar levels of accuracy. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2014

Efficient Implementation of Many-body Quantum Chemical Methods on the Intel Xeon Phi Coprocessor

This paper presents the implementation and performance of the highly accurate CCSD(T) quantum chemistry method on the Intel Xeon Phi coprocessor within the context of the NWChem computational chemistry package. The widespread use of highly correlated methods in electronic structure calculations is contingent upon the interplay between advances in theory and the possibility of utilizing the ever-growing computer power of emerging heterogeneous architectures. We discuss the design decisions of our implementation as well as the optimizations applied to the compute kernels and data transfers between host and coprocessor. We show the feasibility of adopting the Intel Many Integrated Core Architecture and the Intel Xeon Phi coprocessor for developing efficient computational chemistry modeling tools. Remarkable scalability is demonstrated by benchmarks. Our solution scales up to a total of 62560 cores with the concurrent utilization of Intel Xeon processors and Intel Xeon Phi coprocessors.

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory↗

DOE OSTI2021

Investigating the magnetic and atomic interface configuration for a model Fe/CrN bilayer system

A bilayer of iron on chromium nitride (Fe/CrN) is an interesting system for exchange biasing and sensing applications as the Néel temperature of CrN is 280 K and the Curie temperature of Fe is 1043 K. In this paper, we study the crystal and magnetic structures of the Fe/CrN interface at the atomic level. High quality epitaxial Fe/CrN bilayers prepared by molecular beam epitaxy grow in 001 orientation on MgO(001) substrates with uniform layer thicknesses and sharp interfaces. Our data reveal the epitaxial correlation between Fe and CrN crystals and their magnetic structures at the interface. The magnetic anisotropy directions of Fe and CrN are found parallel to [110] MgO . We studied the electronic and magnetic properties of the interface by performing the first-principles total-energy calculations. Here, we present a model that combines the crystal and magnetic structures of the Fe/CrN bilayer and fully explains all results.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

DOE OSTI2014

Computational Design of Advanced Nuclear Fuels

The objective of the project was to develop a method for theoretical understanding of nuclear fuel materials whose physical and thermophysical properties can be predicted from first principles using a novel dynamical mean field method for electronic structure calculations. We concentrated our study on uranium, plutonium, their oxides, nitrides, carbides, as well as some rare earth materials whose 4f eletrons provide a simplified framework for understanding complex behavior of the f electrons. We addressed the issues connected to the electronic structure, lattice instabilities, phonon and magnon dynamics as well as thermal conductivity. This allowed us to evaluate characteristics of advanced nuclear fuel systems using computer based simulations and avoid costly experiments.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

DOE OSTI2017

Scientific Computation Application Partnerships in Materials and Chemical Sciences, Charge Transfer and Charge Transport in Photoactivated Systems, Developing Electron-Correlated Methods for Excited State Structure and Dynamics in the NWChem Software Suite

Charge transfer and charge transport in photoactivated systems are fundamental processes that underlie solar energy capture, solar energy conversion, and photoactivated catalysis, both organometallic and enzymatic. We developed methods, algorithms, and software tools needed for reliable treatment of the underlying physics for charge transfer and charge transport, an undertaking with broad applicability to the goals of the fundamental-interaction component of the Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences and the exascale initiative of the Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2016

SPECTROSCOPIC CONSTANTS OF THE X{sup 1}Σ{sup +} AND 1{sup 3}Π STATES OF AlO{sup +}

Using both standard and explicitly correlated ab initio methods in conjunction with several atomic basis sets, the ground state of AlO(X{sup 2}Σ{sup +}) and the two lowest electronic states of AlO{sup +} ({sup 1}Σ{sup +} and {sup 3}Π) are investigated. Potential energy curves for these species are mapped, which are incorporated later to solve the nuclear motion problem. Benchmark computations on AlO(X{sup 2}Σ{sup +}) are used to determine the reliability of the theoretical methods and basis sets used for an accurate description of aluminum oxide compounds. The electronic ground state of AlO{sup +} is X{sup 1}Σ{sup +}, followed by the low-lying 1{sup 3}Π state. For both cationic electronic states, a set of spectroscopic parameters are recommended that may help in the identification of this ion in laboratory and astrophysical media. An accurate estimation of the adiabatic ionization energy of AlO, AIE = 9.70 eV, is also reported.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2023

Targeted Dy intercalation under graphene/SiC for tuning its electronic band structure

Metal intercalation of graphene is a promising method to tune its electronic band structure and generate novel electronic and topological phases. The tuning depends critically on the ability to bond the intercalated atoms at predesigned, subsurface interlayer locations because the emerging band structure depends on metal location. In this work, we have studied Dy intercalation under single-layer graphene (SLG) on SiC using spot profile analysis–low-energy electron diffraction and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The experimental work is complemented with density-functional theory (DFT) analysis. Because different diffraction spots originate from different subsurface interlayer regions, it is possible to identify changes in the intercalation location by monitoring the spot intensity as a function of growth conditions. DFT calculations of the chemical potential as a function of intercalated Dy coverage support the variation of the stability of the intercalated phase at different intercalated locations. The preferred location is confirmed from STM studies showing the removal of the 6 × 6 moiré corrugation at the preferred location, observed at higher Dy coverage.

2-dimensional systems↗

DOE OSTI2024

Solution of the Schrödinger equation for quasi-one-dimensional materials using helical waves

We formulate and implement a spectral method for solving the Schrödinger equation, as it applies to quasi-one-dimensional materials and structures. This allows for computation of the electronic structure of important technological materials such as nanotubes (of arbitrary chirality), nanowires, nanoribbons, chiral nanoassemblies, nanosprings and nanocoils, in an accurate, efficient and systematic manner. Our work is motivated by the observation that one of the most successful methods for carrying out electronic structure calculations of bulk/crystalline systems — the plane-wave method — is a spectral method based on eigenfunction expansion. Our scheme avoids computationally onerous approximations involving periodic supercells often employed in conventional plane-wave calculations of quasi-one-dimensional materials, and also overcomes several limitations of other discretization strategies, e.g., those based on finite differences and atomic orbitals. The basis functions in our method — called helical waves (or twisted waves) — are eigenfunctions of the Laplacian with symmetry adapted boundary conditions, and are expressible in terms of plane waves and Bessel functions in helical coordinates. We describe the setup of fast transforms to carry out discretization of the governing equations using our basis set, and the use of matrix-free iterative diagonalization to obtain the electronic eigenstates. Miscellaneous computational details, including the choice of eigensolvers, use of a preconditioning scheme, evaluation of oscillatory radial integrals and the imposition of a kinetic energy cutoff are discussed. We have implemented these strategies into a computational package called HelicES (Helical Electronic Structure). We demonstrate the utility of our method in carrying out systematic electronic structure calculations of various quasi-one-dimensional materials through numerous examples involving nanotubes, nanoribbons and nanowires. We also explore the convergence properties of our method, and assess its accuracy and computational efficiency by comparison against reference finite difference, transfer matrix method and plane-wave results. We anticipate that our method will find applications in computational nanomechanics and multiscale modeling, for carrying out transport calculations of interest to the field of semiconductor devices, and for the discovery of novel chiral phases of matter that are of relevance to the burgeoning quantum hardware industry.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

DOE OSTI2020

Nano-photocurrent Mapping of Local Electronic Structure in Twisted Bilayer Graphene

In this work, we report a combined nano-photocurrent and infrared nanoscopy study of twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) enabling access to the local electronic phenomena at length scales as short as 20 nm. We show that the photocurrent changes sign at carrier densities tracking the local superlattice density of states of TBG. We use this property to identify domains of varying local twist angle by local photothermoelectric effect. Consistent with the photocurrent study, infrared nanoimaging experiments reveal optical conductivity features dominated by twist-angle-dependent interband transitions. Our results provide a fast and robust method for mapping the electronic structure of TBG and suggest that similar methods can be broadly applied to probe electronic inhomogeneities of Moiré superlattices in other van der Waals heterostructures.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2026

Machine learning approach for vibronically renormalized electronic band structures

Here, we present a machine learning (ML) method for efficient computation of vibrational thermal expectation values of physical properties from first principles. Our approach is based on the nonperturbative frozen phonon formulation in which stochastic Monte Carlo algorithm is employed to sample configurations of nuclei in a supercell at finite temperatures based on a first-principles phonon model. A deep-learning neural network is trained to accurately predict physical properties associated with sampled phonon configurations, thus bypassing the time-consuming ab initio calculations. To incorporate the point-group symmetry of the electronic system into the ML model, group-theoretical methods are used to develop a symmetry-invariant descriptor for phonon configurations in the supercell. We apply our ML approach to compute the temperature dependent electronic energy gap of silicon based on density functional theory (DFT). We show that, with less than a hundred DFT calculations for training the neural network model, an order of magnitude larger number of sampling can be achieved for the computation of the vibrational thermal expectation values. Our work highlights the promising potential of ML techniques for finite temperature first-principles electronic structure methods.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

DOE OSTI2023

Nanoscale imaging of He-ion irradiation effects on amorphous TaO x toward electroforming-free neuromorphic functions

Resistive switching in thin films has been widely studied in a broad range of materials. Yet, the mechanisms behind electroresistive switching have been persistently difficult to decipher and control, in part due to their non-equilibrium nature. Here, we demonstrate new experimental approaches that can probe resistive switching phenomena, utilizing amorphous TaO x as a model material system. Specifically, we applied scanning microwave impedance microscopy and cathodoluminescence (CL) microscopy as direct probes of conductance and electronic structure, respectively. These methods provide direct evidence of the electronic state of TaO x despite its amorphous nature. For example, CL identifies characteristic impurity levels in TaO x , in agreement with first principles calculations. We applied these methods to investigate He-ion-beam irradiation as a path to activate conductivity of materials and enable electroforming-free control over resistive switching. However, we find that even though He-ions begin to modify the nature of bonds even at the lowest doses, the films' conductive properties exhibit remarkable stability with large displacement damage and they are driven to metallic states only at the limit of structural decomposition. Finally, we show that electroforming in a nanoscale junction can be carried out with a dissipated power of <20 nW, a much smaller value compared to earlier studies and one that minimizes irreversible structural modifications of the films. Importantly, the multimodal approach described here provides a new framework toward the theory/experiment guided design and optimization of electroresistive materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2011

Electronic band structures and photovoltaic properties of MWO{sub 4} (M=Zn, Mg, Ca, Sr) compounds

Divalent metal tungstates, MWO{sub 4}, with wolframite (M=Zn and Mg) and scheelite (M=Ca and Sr) structures were prepared using a conventional solid state reaction method. Their electronic band structures were investigated by a combination of electronic band structure calculations and electrochemical measurements. From these investigations, it was found that the band structures (i.e. band positions and band gaps) of the divalent metal tungstates were significantly influenced by their crystal structural environments, such as the W-O bond length. Their photovoltaic properties were evaluated by applying to the working electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells. The dye-sensitized solar cells employing the wolframite-structured metal tungstates (ZnWO{sub 4} and MgWO{sub 4}) exhibited better performance than those using the scheelite-structured metal tungstates (CaWO{sub 4} and SrWO{sub 4}), which was attributed to their enhanced electron transfer resulting from their appropriate band positions. - Graphical abstract: The electronic band structures of divalent metal tungstates are described from the combination of experimental results and theoretical calculations, and their electronic structure-dependent photovoltaic performances are also studied. Highlights: > MWO{sub 4} compounds with wolframite (M=Zn and Mg) and scheelite structure (M=Ca and Sr) were prepared. > Their electronic band structures were investigated by the calculations and the measurements. > Their photovoltaic properties were determined by the crystal and electronic structures.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2012

SrZn{sub 2}Sn{sub 2} and Ca{sub 2}Zn{sub 3}Sn{sub 6} - two new Ae-Zn-Sn polar intermetallic compounds (Ae: alkaline earth metal)

SrZn{sub 2}Sn{sub 2} and Ca{sub 2}Zn{sub 3}Sn{sub 6}, two closely related new polar intermetallic compounds, were obtained by high temperature reactions of the elements. Their crystal structures were determined with single crystal XRD methods, and their electronic structures were analyzed by means of DFT calculations. The Zn-Sn structure part of SrZn{sub 2}Sn{sub 2} comprises (anti-)PbO-like {l_brace}ZnSn{sub 4/4}{r_brace} and {l_brace}SnZn{sub 4/4}{r_brace} layers. Ca{sub 2}Zn{sub 3}Sn{sub 6} shows similar {l_brace}ZnSn{sub 4/4}{r_brace} layers and {l_brace}Sn{sub 4}Zn{r_brace} slabs constructed of a covalently bonded Sn scaffold capped by Zn atoms. For both phases, the two types of layers are alternatingly stacked and interconnected via Zn-Sn bonds. SrZn{sub 2}Sn{sub 2} adopts the SrPd{sub 2}Bi{sub 2} structure type, and Ca{sub 2}Zn{sub 3}Sn{sub 6} is isotypic to the R{sub 2}Zn{sub 3}Ge{sub 6} compounds (R=La, Ce, Pr, Nd). Band structure calculations indicate that both SrZn{sub 2}Sn{sub 2} and Ca{sub 2}Zn{sub 3}Sn{sub 6} are metallic. Analyses of the chemical bonding with the electron localization function (ELF) show lone pair like basins at Sn atoms and Zn-Sn bonding interactions between the layers for both title phases, and covalent Sn-Sn bonding within the {l_brace}Sn{sub 4}Zn{r_brace} layers of Ca{sub 2}Zn{sub 3}Sn{sub 6}. - Graphical abstract: Crystal structures of the new Ae-Zn-Sn polar intermetallic phases SrZn{sub 2}Sn{sub 2} and Ca{sub 2}Zn{sub 3}Sn{sub 6}. Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer New polar intermetallic phases SrZn{sub 2}Sn{sub 2} and Ca{sub 2}Zn{sub 3}Sn{sub 6}. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Obtained by high temperature reactions of the elements. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Single crystal XRD structure determination and DFT electronic structure calculations. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Closely related crystal and electronic structures. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Metallic conductivity coexisting with lone pairs and covalent bonding features.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2020

Enabling Efficient and Accurate Computational Studies of MOF Reactivity via QM/MM and QM/QM Methods

Electronic structure calculations can provide unique insight into metal–organic framework (MOF) reactivity and defect formation. Such calculations can be broadly categorized as utilizing either periodic or cluster models, each with their respective advantages and disadvantages. In the present study, we demonstrate how multiscale methods can leverage the advantages of both approaches to enable high levels of accuracy and computational efficiency in studies of MOF reactivity. Using defect formation in a zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF) as a prototypical example, we benchmark a quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) scheme that enables highly efficient cluster-based calculations on MOFs. We demonstrate the importance of correctly accounting for the influence of both dative bond cleavage in the QM cluster and long-range mechanical coupling to the bulk to achieving accurate QM/MM studies of MOFs. We subsequently leverage these cluster models in a QM/QM scheme that goes beyond standard DFT to yield “gold-standard” correlated wave function results on MOFs at modest computational cost. Crucially, we find several cases in which the incorporation of these correlated corrections yields qualitatively important corrections over conventional DFT values.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2010

Super instruction architecture of petascale electronic structure software: the story

Theoretical methods in chemistry lead to algorithms for the computation of electronic energies and other properties of electronic wave functions that require large numbers of floating point operations and involve large data sets. Thus, computational chemists are very interested in using massively parallel computer systems and in particular the new petascale systems. In this paper we discuss a new programming paradigm that was developed at the Quantum Theory Project to construct electronic structure software that can scale to large numbers of cores of the order of 100,000 and beyond to solve problems in materials engineering relevant to the problems facing society today.

Chemistry↗

DOE OSTI2025

Convergent Protocols for Computing Protein–Ligand Interaction Energies Using Fragment-Based Quantum Chemistry

Fragment-based quantum chemistry methods offer a way to sidestep the steep nonlinear scaling of electronic structure calculations so that large molecular systems can be investigated using high-level methods. Here, we use fragmentation to compute protein–ligand interaction energies in systems with several thousand atoms, using a new software platform for managing fragment-based calculations that implements a screened many-body expansion. Convergence tests using a minimal-basis semiempirical method (HF-3c) indicate that two-body calculations, with single-residue fragments and simple hydrogen caps, are sufficient to reproduce interaction energies obtained using conventional supramolecular electronic structure calculations, to within 1 kcal/mol at about 1% of the computational cost. We also demonstrate that the HF-3c results are illustrative of trends obtained with density functional theory in basis sets up to augmented quadruple-ζ quality. Strategic deployment of fragmentation facilitates the use of converged biomolecular model systems alongside high-quality electronic structure methods and basis sets, bringing ab initio quantum chemistry to systems of hitherto unimaginable size. This will be useful for generation of high-quality training data for machine learning applications.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2021

Density-functional theory of material design: fundamentals and applications-I

This article is part-I of a review of density-functional theory (DFT) that is the most widely used method for calculating electronic structure of materials. The accuracy and ease of numerical implementation of DFT methods has resulted in its extensive use for materials design and discovery and has thus ushered in the new field of computational material science. In this article, we start with an introduction to Schrödinger equation and methods of its solutions. After presenting exact results for some well-known systems, difficulties encountered in solving the equation for interacting electrons are described. How these difficulties are handled using the variational principle for the energy to obtain approximate solutions of the Schrödinger equation is discussed. The resulting Hartree and Hartree–Fock theories are presented along with results they give for atomic and solid-state systems. We then describe Thomas–Fermi theory and its extensions which were the initial attempts to formulate many-electron problem in terms of electronic density of a system. Having described these theories, we introduce modern DFT by discussing Hohenberg–Kohn theorems that form its foundations. We then go on to discuss Kohn–Sham (KS) formulation of DFT in its exact form. Next, local density approximation (LDA) is introduced and solutions of KS equation for some representative systems, obtained using the LDA, are presented. We end part-I of the review describing the contents of part-II.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗