SearcharxivSearch

arXiv · 2003.08315

The AiiDA-KKR plugin and its application to high-throughput impurity embedding into a topological insulator

Abstract

The ever increasing availability of supercomputing resources led computer-based materials science into a new era of high-throughput calculations. Recently, Pizzi et al. [Comp. Mat. Sci. 111, 218 (2016)] introduced the AiiDA framework that provides a way to automate calculations while allowing to store the full provenance of complex workflows in a database. We present the development of the AiiDA-KKR plugin that allows to perform a large number of ab initio impurity embedding calculations based on the relativistic full-potential Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker Green function method. The capabilities of the AiiDA-KKR plugin are demonstrated with the calculation of several thousand impurities embedded into the prototypical topological insulator Sb2Te3. The results are collected in the JuDiT database which we use to investigate chemical trends as well as Fermi level and layer dependence of physical properties of impurities. This includes the study of spin moments, the impurity's tendency to form in-gap states or its effect on the charge doping of the host-crystal. These properties depend on the detailed electronic structure of the impurity embedded into the host crystal which highlights the need for ab initio calculations in order to get accurate predictions.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

BibTeXRIS

Philipp Rüßmann, Fabian Bertoldo, Stefan Blügel. 2020-03-18. The AiiDA-KKR plugin and its application to high-throughput impurity embedding into a topological insulator. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41524-020-00482-5

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Measuring chiral phonons

Chiral phonons are quantized vibrations where the atomic motion in a solid breaks improper rotation symmetries. In many cases, chiral phonons possess angular momenta and are therefore selective to circularly polarized light. Both fundamental and applied research efforts on chiral phonons have been gaining increasing attention owing to their importance in a variety of fields including spintronics, spin-selective chemical reactions, thermal transport, quantum information processing and biosensing, where the bi-directional spin-lattice coupling enabled by chiral phonons can be harnessed in new ways, and potentially lead to new functionalities. Thus far, the studies of chiral phonons across diverse materials platforms have evolved largely independently within these fields, but the experimental techniques are often interrelated. In this perspective, we present a detailed description, as well as advantages and disadvantages of the current approaches for experimentally measuring chiral phonons in chiral and achiral materials. We conclude with a discussion of new methods for measuring chiral phonons. Ultimately, this work seeks to offer an experimental guide for systematically investigating the properties of chiral phonons in various materials systems and applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci

A model of grain growth in UN integrating molecular dynamics, phase-field modeling, and uncertainty quantification

Grain growth kinetics and grain-boundary (GB) properties in uranium mononitride (UN) are investigated through an integrated multiscale framework combining molecular dynamics (MD), phase-field modeling, and surrogate-assisted uncertainty quantification. MD simulations yield GB energies for 27 symmetric tilt boundaries from 0--2000~K, which are consistent with available DFT values. The average GB energy is nearly temperature-independent below 1000~K and increases at higher temperatures. A mechanistic pore-drag model applied to the only available grain growth dataset for actinide nitrides yields a mobility reduction factor of $s \approx 0.93$--$0.99$, statistically indistinguishable from unity, confirming that pore drag is negligible under the experimental conditions. The intrinsic GB mobility is therefore extracted directly from the effective mobility, yielding $M_0 = 2.05\times10^{-15}$~m$^4$/(J$\cdot$s) and $Q_M = 0.89$~eV. Phase-field simulations conducted from 1500--2000~K confirm normal curvature-driven grain growth, with grain size distributions converging to the Hillert-like form. A surrogate-assisted global sensitivity analysis---combining principal component analysis, Gaussian process regression, and Sobol decomposition---reveals that the mobility prefactor $M_0$ dominates output variance at all times, followed by the activation energy $Q_M$, while the GB energy $\gamma$ contributes minimally. These results establish the first quantitative grain growth framework for UN and identify the reduction of uncertainty in $M_0$ and $Q_M$ as the highest-priority target for future experimental efforts.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci

Silicon Solar Cell Design for >30% Efficiency via Singlet Fission

Singlet fission (SF) materials convert high-energy photons into multiple charge carriers, providing a route to exceed the efficiency limits of single-junction silicon solar cells without many of the complexities of multi-junction tandem designs. Following the first demonstration of an SF-enhanced silicon solar cell in 2025, there is a need to understand how SF materials can be effectively integrated into high-efficiency industrial silicon devices and translated from proof of concept to a manufacturable technology. Using coupled optical and electrical simulations, we assess the efficiency potential of several industrially relevant silicon cell architectures combined with SF materials. Interdigitated back-contact (IBC) cells offer the greatest potential for improvement due to unrestricted front-surface access and can achieve efficiencies exceeding 33%. However, performance is highly sensitive to front-surface passivation quality. Appropriate silicon design, particularly controlled surface doping and fixed interfacial charge, can mitigate recombination losses and relax passivation requirements for ultra-thin exciton-transfer layers.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci