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

北岭大学公司的主要研究仪器为扩展和加强加利福尼亚州立大学北岭分校（CSUN）的W.M.凯克计算材料理论中心（CSUN）的计算设施提供支持，这是一个西班牙裔服务机构。该集群将使以下三个领域的前沿材料研究和教育成为可能：(1)强相互作用多体电子系统；(2)多功能器件中的自旋输运；(3)激子光伏的界面电荷转移和分离。目标是推进对物质奇异量子态的基本理解，揭示电子电荷和自旋之间复杂的相互作用，并为合理设计光伏材料扩展知识基础。这项研究有可能带来更快的计算机、超高容量的存储设备和更便宜的“塑料”太阳能电池。该集群还将促进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。将开设计算课程，让学生获得科学编程和通过计算解决实际问题的实践经验。该集群还将通过国家科学基金会资助的教师夏令营为高中教师及其学生提供学习计算材料科学的机会。该研究团队将开发最先进的计算方法，并将其应用于凝聚态物理和材料科学中的基本重要问题。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系统复杂特性的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。科学家们将研究基于多铁体和拓扑绝缘体材料的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。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、电荷转移和供体/受体界面分离方面的重大挑战，这是激子太阳能电池的瓶颈。第一原则为基础的理论框架将发展，以解决在有机/有机和有机/无机界面的基本问题。计算发展和提出的研究有可能为凝聚态物理和材料科学领域的重要未解决问题提供基本理解，包括理解物质的新状态、拓扑表征、非常规超导性和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供体/受体界面的电荷转移和分离。

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.