The CCP9 Network: Computational Electronic Structure of Condensed Matter

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CCP9 brings together leading UK researchers into the electronic structure of condensed matter. The field includes the study of metals, semiconductors, magnets and superconductors, employing microscopical quantum mechanical calculations. The activities of CCP9 encompass highly topical areas such as spintronics (next-generation electronic devices, such as magnetic memory MRAM which will potentially soon replace computer hard-disks), nanotechnology (electrical transport in nanoscale structures), high temperature superconductivity, and novel semiconductor materials (including wide gap materials which provide blue semiconductor lasers such as will be used in the new DVD players for high definition television). Our calculations can predict the behaviour at materials under extreme pressures (such as in the Earth's core), where no experiments are possible. New methods being developed can study systems with many thousands of atoms, and will be able to address problems in biochemistry, such as structures of amino acids and proteins. The study of electron-correlation effects in materials is also increasingly important, and could lead to new understanding of potentially important novel materials such as dilute magnetic semiconductors, exotic superconductors and collossal magnetoresistance (CMR) transition metal oxides. The CCP9 network develops and maintains world-leading computer codes for doing such electronic structure calculations. These codes run on computers ranging from desktop PCs to university Beowulf type parallel computers to some of the largest supercomputers in the world. The UK is in the process of a major upgrade in high end computer resources, with the planned new HECTOR facility. When operational, from 2007, this will be one of the most powerful computers anywhere in the world. The CCP9 network not only develops the computer codes to run on such machines, but also trains the future users of these systems through a series of topical workshops, hands on training courses and collaborative visits of international experts to the UK. The UK CCP9 network is strongly integrated with partners in the EU through the psi-k network, and our electronic newsletter is read by over 1500 scientists in the UK, Europe and beyond.