cometadata/datacite-titles-descriptions-related-identifiers huggingface dataset:
DOI: 10.24435/materialscloud:8g-3z
title: Unraveling the crystallization kinetics of the Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ phase change compound with a machine-learned interatomic potential

description: The phase change compound Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ (GST225) is exploited in advanced non-volatile electronic memories and in neuromorphic devices which both rely on a fast and reversible transition between the crystalline and amorphous phases induced by Joule heating. The crystallization kinetics of GST225 is a key functional feature for the operation of these devices. We report here on the development of a machine-learned interatomic potential for GST225 that allowed us to perform large scale molecular dynamics simulations (over 10000 atoms for over 100 ns) to uncover the details of the crystallization kinetics in a wide range of temperatures of interest for the programming of the devices. The potential is obtained by fitting with a deep neural network (NN) scheme a large quantum-mechanical database generated within Density Functional Theory. The availability of a highly efficient and yet highly accurate NN potential opens the possibility to simulate phase change materials at the length and time scales of the real devices.
DOI: 10.24435/materialscloud:kb-9m
title: Hydrogen-induced insulating state accompanied by inter-layer charge ordering in SmNiO₃

description: The effect of hydrogen doping on the crystal structure and the electronic state in SmNiO₃ is investigated by means of density-functional theory with a combinatorial structure-generation approach. While 100% of hydrogen doping per Ni atom has been supposed to be responsible for the experimentally observed insulating phase, we found that 50% of hydrogen doping results in an outstandingly stable atomic structure showing the insulating property. The stable crystal structure shows the peculiar layered pattern of charge disproportionation of Ni²⁺ and Ni³⁺ valences together with the strong Jahn-Teller distortion that causes the eg orbital state splitting and opens the band gap.
DOI: 10.24435/materialscloud:32-8y
title: Unraveling the crystallization kinetics of the Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ phase change compound with a machine-learned interatomic potential

description: The phase change compound Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ (GST225) is exploited in advanced non-volatile electronic memories and in neuromorphic devices which both rely on a fast and reversible transition between the crystalline and amorphous phases induced by Joule heating. The crystallization kinetics of GST225 is a key functional feature for the operation of these devices. We report here on the development of a machine-learned interatomic potential for GST225 that allowed us to perform large scale molecular dynamics simulations (over 10000 atoms for over 100 ns) to uncover the details of the crystallization kinetics in a wide range of temperatures of interest for the programming of the devices. The potential is obtained by fitting with a deep neural network (NN) scheme a large quantum-mechanical database generated within Density Functional Theory. The availability of a highly efficient and yet highly accurate NN potential opens the possibility to simulate phase change materials at the length and time scales of the real devices.
DOI: 10.24435/materialscloud:91-mj
title: Correlations of spin splitting and orbital fluctuations due to 1/f charge noise in the Si/SiGe Quantum Dot

description: Fluctuations of electric fields can change the position of a gate-defined quantum dot in a semiconductor heterostructure. In the presence of magnetic field gradient, these stochastic shifts of electron's wavefunction lead to fluctuations of electron's spin splitting. The resulting spin dephasing due to charge noise limits the coherence times of spin qubits in isotopically purified Si/SiGe quantum dots. We investigate the spin splitting noise caused by such process caused by microscopic motion of charges at the semiconductor-oxide interface. We compare effects of isotropic and planar displacement of the charges, and estimate their densities and typical displacement magnitudes that can reproduce experimentally observed spin splitting noise spectra. We predict that for defect density of 10¹⁰ cm⁻², visible correlations between noises in spin splitting and in energy of electron's ground state in the quantum dot, are expected.
DOI: 10.24435/materialscloud:ca-jt
title: Correlations of spin splitting and orbital fluctuations due to 1/f charge noise in the Si/SiGe Quantum Dot

description: Fluctuations of electric fields can change the position of a gate-defined quantum dot in a semiconductor heterostructure. In the presence of magnetic field gradient, these stochastic shifts of electron's wavefunction lead to fluctuations of electron's spin splitting. The resulting spin dephasing due to charge noise limits the coherence times of spin qubits in isotopically purified Si/SiGe quantum dots. We investigate the spin splitting noise caused by such process caused by microscopic motion of charges at the semiconductor-oxide interface. We compare effects of isotropic and planar displacement of the charges, and estimate their densities and typical displacement magnitudes that can reproduce experimentally observed spin splitting noise spectra. We predict that for defect density of 10¹⁰ cm⁻², visible correlations between noises in spin splitting and in energy of electron's ground state in the quantum dot, are expected.
DOI: 10.24435/materialscloud:ae-cq
title: Combined theoretical and experimental study of the Moiré dislocation network at the SrTiO₃-(La,Sr)(Al,Ta)O₃ interface

description: Recently a highly ordered Moiré dislocation lattice was identified at the interface between a SrTiO₃ (STO) thin film and the (LaAlO₃)₀.₃(Sr₂TaAlO₆)₀.₇ (LSAT) substrate. A fundamental understanding of the local ionic and electronic structure around the dislocation cores is crucial to further engineer the properties of these complex multifunctional heterostructures. Here we combine experimental characterization via analytical scanning transmission electron microscopy with results of molecular dynamics and density functional theory calculations to gain insights into the structure and defect chemistry of these dislocation arrays. Our results show that these dislocations lead to undercoordinated Ta/Al cations at the dislocation core, where oxygen vacancies can easily be formed, further facilitated by the presence of cation vacancies. The reduced Ti³⁺ observed experimentally at the dislocations by electron energy-loss spectroscopy are a consequence of both the structure of the dislocation itself, as well as of the electron-doping due to oxygen vacancy formation. Finally, the experimentally observed Ti diffusion into LSAT around the dislocation core occurs only together with cation-vacancy formation in LSAT or Ta diffusion into STO.
DOI: 10.24435/materialscloud:8s-qh
title: Magnetostriction-driven muon localisation in an antiferromagnetic oxide

description: Magnetostriction drives a rhombohedral distortion in the cubic rock salt antiferromagnet MnO at the Nèel temperature TN=118 K.  As an unexpected consequence we show that this distortion acts to localize the site of an implanted muon due to the accompanying redistribution of electron density. This lifts the degeneracy between equivalent sites, resulting in a single observed muon precession frequency.  Above TN, the muon instead becomes delocalized around a network of equivalent sites.  Our first-principles simulations based on Hubbard-corrected density-functional theory and molecular dynamics are consistent with our experimental data and help to resolve a long-standing puzzle regarding muon data on MnO, as well as having wider applicability to other magnetic oxides.
DOI: 10.24435/materialscloud:a5-kg
title: Combined theoretical and experimental study of the Moiré dislocation network at the SrTiO₃-(La,Sr)(Al,Ta)O₃ interface

description: Recently a highly ordered Moiré dislocation lattice was identified at the interface between a SrTiO₃ (STO) thin film and the (LaAlO₃)₀.₃(Sr₂TaAlO₆)₀.₇ (LSAT) substrate. A fundamental understanding of the local ionic and electronic structure around the dislocation cores is crucial to further engineer the properties of these complex multifunctional heterostructures. Here we combine experimental characterization via analytical scanning transmission electron microscopy with results of molecular dynamics and density functional theory calculations to gain insights into the structure and defect chemistry of these dislocation arrays. Our results show that these dislocations lead to undercoordinated Ta/Al cations at the dislocation core, where oxygen vacancies can easily be formed, further facilitated by the presence of cation vacancies. The reduced Ti³⁺ observed experimentally at the dislocations by electron energy-loss spectroscopy are a consequence of both the structure of the dislocation itself, as well as of the electron-doping due to oxygen vacancy formation. Finally, the experimentally observed Ti diffusion into LSAT around the dislocation core occurs only together with cation-vacancy formation in LSAT or Ta diffusion into STO.
DOI: 10.24435/materialscloud:jr-m3
title: Magnetostriction-driven muon localisation in an antiferromagnetic oxide

description: Magnetostriction drives a rhombohedral distortion in the cubic rock salt antiferromagnet MnO at the Nèel temperature TN=118 K.  As an unexpected consequence we show that this distortion acts to localize the site of an implanted muon due to the accompanying redistribution of electron density. This lifts the degeneracy between equivalent sites, resulting in a single observed muon precession frequency.  Above TN, the muon instead becomes delocalized around a network of equivalent sites.  Our first-principles simulations based on Hubbard-corrected density-functional theory and molecular dynamics are consistent with our experimental data and help to resolve a long-standing puzzle regarding muon data on MnO, as well as having wider applicability to other magnetic oxides.
DOI: 10.24435/materialscloud:9p-tz
title: Ab initio functional-independent calculations of the clamped Pockels tensor of tetragonal barium titanate

description: We present an ab initio method to calculate the clamped Pockels tensor of ferroelectric materials from density-functional theory (DFT), the modern theory of polarization exploiting the electric-enthalpy functional, and automated first- and second-order finite-difference derivatives of the polarizations and the Hellmann-Feynman forces. Thanks to the functional-independent capabilities of our approach, we can determine the Pockels tensor of tetragonal barium titanate (BTO) beyond the local density approximation (LDA), with arbitrary exchange-correlation (XC) functionals, for example, PBEsol. The latter, together with RRKJ ultra-soft pseudo-potentials (PP) and a supercell exhibiting local titanium off-centering, enables us to stabilize the negative optical phonon modes encountered in tetragonal BTO when LDA and norm-conserving PP are combined. As a result, the correct value range of r51, the largest experimental Pockels coefficient of BTO, is recovered. We also reveal that r51 increases with decreasing titanium off-centering for this material. The lessons learned from the structural, dielectric, and vibrational investigations of BTO will be essential to design next-generation electro-optical modulators based on the Pockels effect.
DOI: 10.24435/materialscloud:93-ek
title: Ab initio functional-independent calculations of the clamped Pockels tensor of tetragonal barium titanate

description: We present an ab initio method to calculate the clamped Pockels tensor of ferroelectric materials from density-functional theory (DFT), the modern theory of polarization exploiting the electric-enthalpy functional, and automated first- and second-order finite-difference derivatives of the polarizations and the Hellmann-Feynman forces. Thanks to the functional-independent capabilities of our approach, we can determine the Pockels tensor of tetragonal barium titanate (BTO) beyond the local density approximation (LDA), with arbitrary exchange-correlation (XC) functionals, for example, PBEsol. The latter, together with RRKJ ultra-soft pseudo-potentials (PP) and a supercell exhibiting local titanium off-centering, enables us to stabilize the negative optical phonon modes encountered in tetragonal BTO when LDA and norm-conserving PP are combined. As a result, the correct value range of r51, the largest experimental Pockels coefficient of BTO, is recovered. We also reveal that r51 increases with decreasing titanium off-centering for this material. The lessons learned from the structural, dielectric, and vibrational investigations of BTO will be essential to design next-generation electro-optical modulators based on the Pockels effect.
DOI: 10.24435/materialscloud:x5-tp
title: First-principles diagrammatic Monte Carlo for electron-phonon interactions and polarons

description: Summing all Feynman diagrams with quantitative accuracy is a holy grail in theoretical physics. In condensed matter, the lattice vibration (phonon) field couples with the electrons, leading to the formation of entangled electron-phonon (e-ph) states called polarons.  In the intermediate- and strong-coupling regimes common to many conventional and quantum materials, a many-body treatment of polarons requires adding up a large number of e-ph diagrams. Diagrammatic Monte Carlo (DMC) is an efficient method for diagram summation and has been employed to study polarons within simplified \e-ph models (Holstein, Frohlich, etc.).  Here we show DMC calculations based on accurate first-principles e-ph interactions, enabling numerically exact results for ground-state and dynamical properties of polarons in real materials, including the polaron formation energy, effective mass, spectral weight, phonon cloud distribution, optical conductivity, and mobility. We demonstrate such DMC calculations in systems with polarons ranging from small (localized) to large (delocalized), including LiF, SrTiO3, and TiO2 rutile and anatase. This advance is enabled by our recently developed technique for compressing first-principles e-ph interaction matrices~\cite{SVD-paper}, together with a matrix-product formalism that mitigates the DMC sign problem from multiple electronic bands. Our work enables precise modeling of e-ph interactions and polarons in coupling regimes ranging from weak to strong, opening doors to studies of transport, linear response, and superconductivity in the strong e-ph coupling regime.
DOI: 10.24435/materialscloud:zy-t3
title: Dataset for first-principles diagrammatic Monte Carlo for electron-phonon interactions and polaron

description: Summing all Feynman diagrams with quantitative accuracy is a holy grail in theoretical physics. In condensed matter, the lattice vibration (phonon) field couples with the electrons, leading to the formation of entangled electron-phonon (e-ph) states called polarons.  In the intermediate- and strong-coupling regimes common to many conventional and quantum materials, a many-body treatment of polarons requires adding up a large number of e-ph diagrams. Diagrammatic Monte Carlo (DMC) is an efficient method for diagram summation and has been employed to study polarons within simplified e-ph models (Holstein, Frohlich, etc.).  Here we show DMC calculations based on accurate first-principles e-ph interactions, enabling numerically exact results for ground-state and dynamical properties of polarons in real materials, including the polaron formation energy, effective mass, spectral weight, phonon cloud distribution, optical conductivity, and mobility. We demonstrate such DMC calculations in systems with polarons ranging from small (localized) to large (delocalized), including LiF, SrTiO3, and TiO2 rutile and anatase. This advance is enabled by our recently developed technique for compressing first-principles e-ph interaction matrices, together with a matrix-product formalism that mitigates the DMC sign problem from multiple electronic bands. Our work enables precise modeling of e-ph interactions and polarons in coupling regimes ranging from weak to strong, opening doors to studies of transport, linear response, and superconductivity in the strong e-ph coupling regime.
DOI: 10.24435/materialscloud:2b-zh
title: Dataset for first-principles diagrammatic Monte Carlo for electron-phonon interactions and polaron

description: Summing all Feynman diagrams with quantitative accuracy is a holy grail in theoretical physics. In condensed matter, the lattice vibration (phonon) field couples with the electrons, leading to the formation of entangled electron-phonon (e-ph) states called polarons.  In the intermediate- and strong-coupling regimes common to many conventional and quantum materials, a many-body treatment of polarons requires adding up a large number of e-ph diagrams. Diagrammatic Monte Carlo (DMC) is an efficient method for diagram summation and has been employed to study polarons within simplified e-ph models (Holstein, Frohlich, etc.).  Here we show DMC calculations based on accurate first-principles e-ph interactions, enabling numerically exact results for ground-state and dynamical properties of polarons in real materials, including the polaron formation energy, effective mass, spectral weight, phonon cloud distribution, optical conductivity, and mobility. We demonstrate such DMC calculations in systems with polarons ranging from small (localized) to large (delocalized), including LiF, SrTiO3, and TiO2 rutile and anatase. This advance is enabled by our recently developed technique for compressing first-principles e-ph interaction matrices, together with a matrix-product formalism that mitigates the DMC sign problem from multiple electronic bands. Our work enables precise modeling of e-ph interactions and polarons in coupling regimes ranging from weak to strong, opening doors to studies of transport, linear response, and superconductivity in the strong e-ph coupling regime.
DOI: 10.24435/materialscloud:mq-3k
title: Structural transitions of calcium carbonate by molecular dynamics simulation

description: Calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) plays a crucial role in the global carbon cycle, and its phase diagram is of significant scientific interest. We used molecular dynamics to investigate selected structural phase transitions of calcium carbonate. Using the Raiteri potential, we explored the structural transitions occurring at the constant pressure of 1 bar, with temperatures ranging from 300 to 2500 K, and at the constant temperature of 1600 K, with pressures ranging from 0 to 13 GPa. With increasing temperature, the transitions between calcite, CaCO₃-IV, and CaCO₃-V were characterized. In the calcite structure, the carbonate ions are ordered in a planar triangular arrangement, alternating with layers of calcium ions. As the temperature increases, the transition from calcite to CaCO₃-IV occurs, leading to partial disordering of the carbonate ions. At higher temperatures, CaCO₃-IV transforms into CaCO₃-V. Through free energy analysis, we classified the latter transition as a continuous phase transition. At a temperature of 2000 K, a 'disordered CaCO₃' structure appears, characterized by low order within the calcium and carbonate sublattices and the free rotation of the carbonate ions. With increasing pressure, two calcium carbonate transformations were observed. At P = 2 GPa, the CaCO₃-V phase undergoes a phase transition into CaCO₃-IV, demonstrating that the model can describe the transition between these two phases as pressure- and temperature-driven. At P = 4.25 GPa, CaCO₃-IV undergoes a phase transition into the CaCO₃-Vb phase. This transition is classified as first-order based on free energy calculations.
DOI: 10.24435/materialscloud:ft-57
title: Structural transitions of calcium carbonate by molecular dynamics simulation

description: Calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) plays a crucial role in the global carbon cycle, and its phase diagram is of significant scientific interest. We used molecular dynamics to investigate selected structural phase transitions of calcium carbonate. Using the Raiteri potential, we explored the structural transitions occurring at the constant pressure of 1 bar, with temperatures ranging from 300 to 2500 K, and at the constant temperature of 1600 K, with pressures ranging from 0 to 13 GPa. With increasing temperature, the transitions between calcite, CaCO₃-IV, and CaCO₃-V were characterized. In the calcite structure, the carbonate ions are ordered in a planar triangular arrangement, alternating with layers of calcium ions. As the temperature increases, the transition from calcite to CaCO₃-IV occurs, leading to partial disordering of the carbonate ions. At higher temperatures, CaCO₃-IV transforms into CaCO₃-V. Through free energy analysis, we classified the latter transition as a continuous phase transition. At a temperature of 2000 K, a 'disordered CaCO₃' structure appears, characterized by low order within the calcium and carbonate sublattices and the free rotation of the carbonate ions. With increasing pressure, two calcium carbonate transformations were observed. At P = 2 GPa, the CaCO₃-V phase undergoes a phase transition into CaCO₃-IV, demonstrating that the model can describe the transition between these two phases as pressure- and temperature-driven. At P = 4.25 GPa, CaCO₃-IV undergoes a phase transition into the CaCO₃-Vb phase. This transition is classified as first-order based on free energy calculations.
DOI: 10.24435/materialscloud:3z-bk
title: Understanding the role of oxygen-vacancy defects in Cu₂O(111) from first-principle calculations

description: The presence of defects, such as copper and oxygen vacancies, in cuprous oxide films determines their characteristic carrier conductivity and consequently their application as semiconducting systems. There are still open questions on the induced electronic re-distribution, including the formation of polarons. Indeed, to accurately reproduce the structural and electronic properties at the cuprous oxide surface, very large slab models and theoretical approaches that go beyond the standard generalized gradient corrected density functional theory are needed. In this work we investigate oxygen vacancies formed in proximity of a reconstructed Cu₂O(111) surface, where the outermost unsaturated copper atoms are removed, thus forming non-stoichiometric surface layers with copper vacancies. We address simultaneously surface and bulk properties by modelling a thick and symmetric slab, to find that hybrid exchange-correlation functionals are needed to describe the oxygen vacancy in this system. Our simulations show that the formation of oxygen vacancies is favoured in the sub-surface layer. Moreover, the oxygen vacancy leads to a splitting and left-shift of the shallow hole states in the gap, which are associated with the deficiency of copper at the surface. These findings suggest that surface electronic structure and reactivity are sensitive to the presence of oxygen vacancies, also when the latter are formed deeper within the film.