MRI: Acquisition of Computer Cluster for Data-Driven Discovery in Materials Research and Education

作为大学公司的主要研究工具，北岭大学为扩大和加强加州州立大学北岭大学(CSUN)的W.M.凯克计算材料理论中心的计算设施提供支持，该中心是一家西班牙裔服务机构。该集团将使尖端材料研究和教育在以下三个领域：(1)在强相互作用的多体电子系统；(2)在多功能设备中的自旋输运；(3)在激子光伏中的界面电荷转移和分离。其目的是促进对物质奇异量子态的基本理解，揭开电子电荷和自旋之间错综复杂的相互作用，并扩大合理设计光伏材料的知识基础。这项研究有可能导致更快的计算机、超大容量存储设备和更便宜的“塑料”太阳能电池。该专题组还将促进对下一代材料科学家的教育和培训，包括来自代表性不足群体的学生。将开发计算课程，让学生在科学编程和通过计算解决实际问题方面获得实践经验。该集群还将通过NSF资助的教师夏令营为高中教师和他们的学生提供学习计算材料科学的机会。研究小组将开发最先进的计算方法，并将它们应用于凝聚态物理和材料科学中的根本重要问题。研究人员将研究与相关电子系统相关的基本问题，并展示复杂材料中出现的新物理现象。基于计算模型对这些相互作用体系复杂性质的深入理解和定量预测，将为该领域的理论和实验研究提供有价值的信息和指导。科学家们将研究由铁磁和铁电隧道结组成的多功能纳米系统的电子结构和自旋输运，这些隧道结基于多铁性和拓扑绝缘材料。不同自由度之间的耦合及其对界面结构的敏感性将产生丰富的令人兴奋的现象，为未来自旋电子器件的新兴多功能提供前所未有的途径。他们将解决太阳能转换、电荷转移和施主/受主界面分离的重大挑战，这是激子太阳能电池的瓶颈。将建立一个以第一原则为基础的理论框架，以解决有机/有机和有机/无机界面的基本问题。计算的发展和拟议的研究有可能为凝聚态物理和材料科学领域中尚未解决的重要问题提供基本的理解，包括了解物质的新状态、拓扑特征、非传统超导以及强相互作用电子和自旋系统中的量子相变；铁磁/铁电隧道结和自旋电子器件中的自旋输运；以及与太阳能电池相关的施主/受主界面上的电荷转移和分离。

This Major Research Instrumentation to the University Corporation, Northridge provides support for expanding and strengthening the computational facility of the W.M. Keck Computational Materials Theory Center at California State University Northridge (CSUN), a Hispanic serving institution. The cluster will enable cutting-edge materials research and education in the following three areas: (1) in strongly interacting many-body electronic systems; (2) in spin transport in multifunctional devices; and (3) in interfacial charge transfer and separation in excitonic photovoltaics. The goal is to advance fundamental understanding of exotic quantum states of matter, to unravel intricate interaction between electron charge and spin, and to expand the knowledge basis for rational design of photovoltaic materials. The research has potential to lead to faster computers, ultra-high capacity memory storage devices, and cheaper "plastic" solar cells. The cluster will also facilitate the education and training of next generation of materials scientists, including students from underrepresented groups. Computational courses will be developed where students gain hands-on experience in scientific programming and solving practical problems by computation. The cluster will also offer opportunities for high-school teachers and their students via NSF funded teachers summer camps to learn about computational materials science. The research team will develop state-of-the-art computational approaches and apply them to fundamentally important problems in condensed matter physics and materials science. The researchers will investigate fundamental problems associated with correlated electron systems and demonstrate novel physical phenomena emerging in complex materials. The improved understanding and quantitative prediction based on computational modeling on the complex properties of these interacting systems will provide valuable information and guidance for the theoretical and experimental research in the field. The scientists will study the electronic structure and spin transport of multifunctional nano-systems consisting of ferromagnetic and ferroelectric tunnel junctions based on multiferroics and topological insulator materials. The coupling between different degrees of freedom and its sensitivity to interfacial structure will give rise to a wealth of exciting phenomena, providing unprecedented access to emerging multi-functionalities of future spintronic devices. They will tackle a grand challenge in solar energy conversion, charge transfer and separation at donor/acceptor interfaces, which is the bottleneck for excitonic solar cells. A first principles based theoretical framework will be developed to address fundamental problems at the organic/organic and organic/inorganic interfaces. The computational developments and the proposed research have the potential to provide fundamental understanding of important unresolved questions in areas of condensed matter physics and materials science, ranging from understanding new states of matter, topological characterization, unconventional superconductivity, and quantum phase transitions in strongly interacting electron and spin systems; to spin transport in ferromagnetic/ferroelectric tunnel junctions and spintronic devices; and to charge transfer and separation at donor/acceptor interfaces pertinent to solar cells.