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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 433 records · Page 24
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

First principle calculation in FeCo overlayer on GaAs substrate

In this work the first principle electronic structure calculation is reported for FeCo/GaAs thin film system to investigate the effect of orientation on the electronic structural properties. A unit cell describing FeCo layers and GaAs layers is constructed for (100), (110), (111) orientation with vacuum of 30Å to reduce dimensions. It is found that although the (110) orientation is energetically more favorable than others, the magnetic moment is quite large in (100) and (111) system compared to the (110) and is due to the total DOS variation with orientation.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Rock-salt structure lithium deuteride formation in liquid lithium with high-concentrations of deuterium: a first-principles molecular dynamics study

Because of lithium's possible use as a first wall material in a fusion reactor, a fundamental understanding of the interactions between liquid lithium (Li) and deuterium (D) is important. Here, we predict structural and dynamical properties of liquid Li samples with high concentrations of D, as derived from first-principles molecular dynamics simulations. Liquid Li samples with four concentrations of inserted D atoms (LiD$_{\beta}$ , $\beta =0.25$ , 0.50, 0.75, and 1.00) are studied at temperatures ranging from 470 to 1143 K. Densities, diffusivities, pair distribution functions, bond angle distribution functions, geometries, and charge transfer between Li and D atoms are calculated and analyzed. The analysis suggests liquid–solid phase transitions can occur at some concentrations and temperatures, forming rock-salt LiD within liquid Li. Finally, we observed the formation of some D 2 molecules at high D concentrations.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Finite-temperature instantons from first principles

We derive the finite-temperature quantum-tunneling rate from first principles. The tunneling rate depends on both temperature and time. We demonstrate that the relevant instantons should, therefore, be defined on a Keldysh-Schwinger contour, and we discuss how the familiar Euclidean time result arises from the limit of large physical times. We identify distinct behavior in the high- and low-temperature limits, incorporating effects from background fields. We construct a consistent perturbative scheme that incorporates large finite-temperature effects. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Steingasser, Thomas (ORCID:0000000217262117)↗
DOE OSTI2014

Accurate and Scalable O(N) Algorithm for First-Principles Molecular-Dynamics Computations on Large Parallel Computers

We present the first truly scalable first-principles molecular dynamics algorithm with O(N) complexity and controllable accuracy, capable of simulating systems with finite band gaps of sizes that were previously impossible with this degree of accuracy. By avoiding global communications, we provide a practical computational scheme capable of extreme scalability. Accuracy is controlled by the mesh spacing of the finite difference discretization, the size of the localization regions in which the electronic wave functions are confined, and a cutoff beyond which the components of the overlap matrix can be omitted when computing selected elements of its inverse. We demonstrate the algorithm's excellent parallel scaling for up to 101 952 atoms on 23 328 processors, with a wall-clock time of the order of 1 min per molecular dynamics time step and numerical error on the forces of less than 7x10 -4 Ha/Bohr.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

First-Principles Calculation of Electroweak Box Diagrams from Lattice QCD

We present the first realistic lattice QCD calculation of the $γ W$-box diagrams relevant for beta decays. The nonperturbative low-momentum integral of the $γ W$ loop is calculated using a lattice QCD simulation, complemented by the perturbative QCD result at high momenta. Using the pion semileptonic decay as an example, we demonstrate the feasibility of the method. By using domain wall fermions at the physical pion mass with multiple lattice spacings and volumes, we obtain the axial γ W -box correction to the semileptonic pion decay, $\square$$\frac{VA}{γW}|_π$ = 2.830 (11) stat (26 )syst × 10 –3 , with the total uncertainty controlled at the level of ~1% . This study sheds light on the first-principles computation of the $γ W$-box correction to the neutron decay, which plays a decisive role in the determination of $|V_ud|$ .

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Structural inheritance and difference between Ti 2 AlC, Ti 3 AlC 2 and Ti 5 Al 2 C 3 under pressure from first principles

The structural inheritance and difference between Ti 2 AlC, Ti 3 AlC 2 and Ti 5 Al 2 C 3 under pressure from first principles are studied. The results indicate that the lattice parameter a are almost the same within Ti 2 AlC, Ti 3 AlC 2 and Ti 5 Al 2 C 3 , and the value of c in Ti 5 Al 2 C 3 is the sum of Ti 2 AlC and Ti 3 AlC 2 which is revealed by the covalently bonded chain in the electron density difference: Al–Ti–C–Ti–Al for Ti 2 AlC, Al–Ti 2 –C–Ti 1 –C–Ti 2 –Al for Ti 3 AlC 2 and Al–Ti 3 –C 2 –Ti 3 –Al–Ti 2 –C 1 –Ti 1 –C 1 –Ti 2 –Al for Ti 5 Al 2 C 3 . The calculated axial compressibilities, volumetric shrinkage, elastic constant c 11 , c 33 /c 11 ratio, bulk modulus, shear modulus, and Young’s modulus of Ti 5 Al 2 C 3 are within the range of the end members (Ti 2 AlC and Ti 3 AlC 2 ) in a wide pressure range of 0–100 GPa. Only Ti 2 AlC is isotropic crystal at about 50 GPa within the Ti–Al–C compounds. All of the Ti 3 d density of states curves of the three compounds move from lower energy to higher energy level with pressure increasing. The similarities of respective bond length, bond overlap population (Ti–C, Ti–Al and Ti–Ti), atom Mulliken charges under pressure as well as the electron density difference for the three compounds are discovered. Among the Ti–Al–C ternary compounds, Ti–Ti bond behaves least compressibility, whereas the Ti–Al bond is softer than that of Ti–C bonds, which can also been confirmed by the density of states and electron density difference. Bond overlap populations of Ti–Ti, Ti–C and Ti–Al indicate that the ionicity interaction becomes more and more stronger in the three structures as the pressure increasing. Lastly, Mulliken charges of Ti 1 , Ti 2 , Ti 3 , C and Al are 0.65, 0.42, 0.39, –0.73, –0.04 at 0 GPa, respectively, which are consistent with the Pauling scale.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2019

First-principles Study of Strain-Induced Magnetism in Defective Arsenene

By using first-principles calculations, we explore the influences of tensile strain on the magnetic properties of a defective arsenene monolayer with mono-vacancy and di-vacancy. Calculation results show that unstrained defective arsenene monolayers both are intrinsically nonmagnetic. However, appropriate tensile strains can induce a ferromagnetic coupling in mono-vacancy- (8%) and di-vacancy-doped systems (7%), respectively. In addition, we also discussed the physical mechanism of strain-induced magnetism emergence and predicted a possibility of magnetism appearance in the experiment. Our study may provide insight for the design of memory-switching spintronic devices with metal-free magnetism by using arsenene.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2018

Hydrogen adatom interaction on graphene: A first principles study

Interaction between two hydrogen adatoms on graphene was studied by first-principles calculations. We showed that there is an attraction between two H adatoms on graphene. However, the strength of interaction between two hydrogen adatoms and magnetic properties of graphene are strongly dependent on the residence of the two adatoms on the graphene sublattices. Hydrogen adatoms introduce lattice distortion and electron localization in graphene which mediate the attractive interaction between the two H adatoms.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2017

First-principles study of crystallographic slip modes in ω-Zr

We use first-principles density functional theory to study the preferred modes of slip in the high-pressure ω phase of Zr. The generalized stacking fault energy surfaces associated with shearing on nine distinct crystallographic slip modes in the hexagonal ω-Zr crystal are calculated, from which characteristics such as ideal shear stress, the dislocation Burgers vector, and possible accompanying atomic shuffles, are extracted. Comparison of energy barriers and ideal shear stresses suggests that the favorable modes are prismatic < c >, prismatic-II <101¯0> and pyramidal-II < c+a >, which are distinct from the ground state hexagonal close packed α phase of Zr. Operation of these three modes can accommodate any deformation state. The relative preferences among the identified slip modes are examined using a mean-field crystal plasticity model and comparing the calculated deformation texture with the measurement. In conclusion, knowledge of the basic crystallographic modes of slip is critical to understanding and analyzing the plastic deformation behavior of ω-Zr or mixed α-ω phase-Zr.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Magnetic properties of MnBi based alloys: First-principles calculations for MnBi-Co and MnBi-Co-Fe cases

First-principles calculations of fundamental magnetic properties were performed for ordered MnBi, MnBi-Co, and MnBi-Co-Fe alloys to evaluate maximum energy product (BH)(max). Full potential linear-augmented plane wave (FLAPW) and linear-muffin-tin-orbital (LMTO) calculations using density functional theory (DFT) within the local spin density approximation (LSDA) were used and found to give a reasonable description of saturation magnetization (M-s), effective anisotropy constant (K-eff), and Curie temperature (T-c) for NiAs-structured MnBi crystal. We found that upon addition of Co, the M-s and K-eff increased, while T-c reduced. The magnetic anisotropy changed from weak anisotropy easy plane for MnBi to the strong easy axis anisotropy for MnBi-Co and MnBi-Co-Fe. (C) 2013 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Hong, YK↗
DOE OSTI2013

First-principles study of graphene adsorbed on WS{sub 2} monolayer

We perform first-principles calculations to study the energetics and electronic properties of graphene adsorbed on WS{sub 2} surface (G/WS{sub 2}). We find that the graphene can be bound to WS{sub 2} monolayer with an interlayer spacing of about 3.9 ´Å with a binding energy of −21–32 meV per carbon atom dependent on graphene adsorption arrangement, suggesting a weak interaction between graphene and WS{sub 2}. The nearly linear band dispersion character of graphene can be preserved in G/WS{sub 2} system, with a sizable band gap, depending on graphene stacking patterns on WS{sub 2} and the distance between graphene and WS{sub 2} monolayer. More interestingly, when the interlayer spacing is larger than 3.0 ´Å, the energy-gap opening is mainly determined by the distortion of the isolated graphene peeled from WS{sub 2} surface, independent on the WS{sub 2} substrate. Further tight-binding model analysis demonstrates that the origin of semiconducting properties can be well understood by the variation of on-site energy of graphene induced by WS{sub 2} substrate.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2013

Ballistic phonon thermal conductance in graphene nano-ribbon: First-principles calculations

Ballistic phonon thermal conductances for graphene nanoribbons are investigated using first-principles calculations with the density functional perturbation theory and the Landauer theory. The phonon thermal conductance per unit width for GNR is larger than that for graphene and increases with decreasing ribbon width. The normalized thermal conductances with regard to a thermal quantum for GNRs are higher than those for the single-walled carbon nanotube that have circumferential lengths corresponding to the width of GNR.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2016

First principles investigation of GaNbO{sub 4} as a photocatalytic material

We have performed first principles density functional total energy calculations on pure and doped GaNbO{sub 4} to investigate its applicability as a photo catalyst. Pure GaNbO{sub 4} is an indirect, wide band gap semiconductor similar to the widely investigated TiO{sub 2} which is known to be a photo catalyst in UV light [K. Yang et. al. Chem. Mater. 20, 6528 (2008)]. S atom doping of TiO{sub 2} reduces the band gap [F. Tian et. al. J. Phys. Chem. B 110, 17866 (2006)], and increases its efficiency in the visible light range. It has been experimentally reported that S doping of GaNbO{sub 4} at the O site, decreases its photo catalytic efficiency. Our band structure calculations show that both pure and doped GaNbO{sub 4} have indirect band gaps and S atom doping reduces the band gap in agreement with experiments. The decrease in the band gap is due to the lowering of the conduction band minimum towards the Fermi level. An unequal reduction in the band gap was observed at the four inequivalent O sites chosen for S doping. This suggests that the photo catalytic activity varies with the dopant site.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2020

An ultra-incompressible Mn3N compound predicted by first-principles genetic algorithm

Using genetic algorithms for an unbiased structure search and first-principles total-energy calculations, a stable manganese nitride, Mn3N, is discovered. Mn3N is a nonmagnetic metal and isostructural to superhard Re3N. Mn3N exhibits a large bulk modulus and incompressibility comparable to that of the ultra-incompressible OsB. We show that the large bulk modulus can be attributed to the strong covalent bonding in this system. Phonon calculations and analysis confirm the dynamical stability of the Mn3N compound. We also show that weak electron–phonon coupling leads to a small superconducting transition temperature for Mn3N.

Zhang, Chao (ORCID:0000000259572287)↗
DOE OSTI2019

Simple correction to bandgap problems in IV and III–V semiconductors: an improved, local first-principles density functional theory

We report results from a fast, efficient, and first-principles full-potential Nth-order muffin-tin orbital (FP-NMTO) method combined with van Leeuwen–Baerends correction to local density exchange-correlation potential. We show that more complete and compact basis set is critical in improving the electronic and structural properties. Here, we exemplify the self-consistent FP-NMTO calculations on group IV and III–V semiconductors. Notably, predicted bandgaps, lattice constants, and bulk moduli are in good agreement with experiments (e.g. we find for Ge 0.86 eV, 5.57 Å, 75 GPa versus measured 0.74 eV, 5.66 Å, 77.2 GPa). Here, we also showcase its application to the electronic properties of 2-dimensional h -BN and h -SiC, again finding good agreement with experiments.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2023

First-principles based plasma profile predictions for optimized stellarators

In the present Letter, first-of-its-kind computer simulations predicting plasma profiles for modern optimized stellarators—while self-consistently retaining neoclassical transport, turbulent transport with 3D effects, and external physical sources—are presented. These simulations exploit a newly developed coupling framework involving the global gyrokinetic turbulence code GENE-3D, the neoclassical transport code KNOSOS, and the 1D transport solver TANGO. This framework is used to analyze the recently observed degradation of energy confinement in electron-heated plasmas in the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator, where the central ion temperature was 'clamped' to $T_\textrm i \approx 1.5$ keV regardless of the external heating power. By performing first-principles based simulations, we provide key evidence to understand this effect, namely the inefficient thermal coupling between electrons and ions in a turbulence-dominated regime, which is exacerbated by the large $T_\textrm e/T_\textrm i$ ratios, and show that a more efficient ion heat source, such as direct ion heating, will increase the on-axis ion temperature. This work paves the way towards the use of high-fidelity models for the development of the next generation of stellarators, in which neoclassical and turbulent transport are optimized simultaneously.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Thermodynamic and electron transport properties of Ca 3 Ru 2 O 7 from first-principles phonon calculations and Boltzmann transport theory

Here, this work demonstrates a first-principles-based approach to obtaining finite temperature thermal and electronic transport properties which can be employed to model and understand mesoscale structural evolution during electronic, magnetic, and structural phase transitions. A computationally tractable model was introduced to estimate electron relaxation time and its temperature dependence. The model is applied to Ca 3 Ru 2 O 7 with a focus on understanding its electrical resistivity across the electronic phase transition at 48 K. A quasiharmonic phonon approach to the lattice vibrations was employed to account for thermal expansion while the Boltzmann transport theory including spin-orbit coupling was used to calculate the electron-transport properties, including the temperature dependence of electrical conductivity.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Thermoelectric properties of the unfilled skutterudite FeSb 3 from first principles and Seebeck local probes

In this paper, using a combination of first-principles calculations and experimental transport measurements, we study the electronic and magnetic structure of the unfilled skutterudite FeSb 3 . We employ the hybrid functional approach for exchange correlation. The ground state is determined to be antiferromagnetic with an atomic magnetic moment of 1.6μ B /Fe. The Néel temperature T N is estimated at 6 K, in agreement with experiments which found a paramagnetic state down to 10 K. The ground state is semiconducting, with a small electronic gap of 33meV, also consistent with previous experiments on films. Charge carrier concentrations are estimated from Hall resistance measurements. The Seebeck coefficient is measured and mapped using a scanning probe at room temperature that yields an average value of 38.6μVK -1 , slightly lower than the theoretical result. Finally, the theoretical conductivity is analyzed as a function of temperature and concentration of charge carriers.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗