Weighted least squares fitting to a database of quantum mechanical calculations can determine the optimal parameters of empirical potential models. While algorithms exist to provide optimal potential parameters for a given fitting database of structu
res and their structure property functions, and to estimate prediction errors using Bayesian sampling, defining an optimal fitting database based on potential predictions remains elusive. A testing set of structures and their structure property functions provides an empirical measure of potential transferability. Here, we propose an objective function for fitting databases based on testing set errors. The objective function allows the optimization of the weights in a fitting database, the assessment of the inclusion or removal of structures in the fitting database, or the comparison of two different fitting databases. To showcase this technique, we consider an example Lennard-Jones potential for Ti, where modeling multiple complicated crystal structures is difficult for a radial pair potential. The algorithm finds different optimal fitting databases, depending on the objective function of potential prediction error for a testing set.
We introduce a Gaussian approximation potential (GAP) for atomistic simulations of liquid and amorphous elemental carbon. Based on a machine-learning representation of the density-functional theory (DFT) potential-energy surface, such interatomic pot
entials enable materials simulations with close-to DFT accuracy but at much lower computational cost. We first determine the maximum accuracy that any finite-range potential can achieve in carbon structures; then, using a novel hierarchical set of two-, three-, and many-body structural descriptors, we construct a GAP model that can indeed reach the target accuracy. The potential yields accurate energetic and structural properties over a wide range of densities; it also correctly captures the structure of the liquid phases, at variance with state-of-the-art empirical potentials. Exemplary applications of the GAP model to surfaces of diamond-like tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) are presented, including an estimate of the amorphous materials surface energy, and simulations of high-temperature surface reconstructions (graphitization). The new interatomic potential appears to be promising for realistic and accurate simulations of nanoscale amorphous carbon structures.
The role of the interface potential on the effective mass of charge carriers is elucidated in this work. We develop a new theoretical formalism using a spatially dependent effective mass that is related to the magnitude of the interface potential. Us
ing this formalism we studied Ge quantum dots (QDs) formed by plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) and co-sputtering (sputter). These samples allowed us to isolate important consequences arising from differences in the interface potential. We found that for a higher interface potential, as in the case of PECVD QDs, there is a larger reduction in the effective mass, which increases the confinement energy with respect to the sputter sample. We further understood the action of O interface states by comparing our results with Ge QDs grown by molecular beam epitaxy. It is found that the O states can suppress the influence of the interface potential. From our theoretical formalism we determine the length scale over which the interface potential influences the effective mass.
Accuracy of molecular dynamics simulations depends crucially on the interatomic potential used to generate forces. The gold standard would be first-principles quantum mechanics (QM) calculations, but these become prohibitively expensive at large simu
lation scales. Machine learning (ML) based potentials aim for faithful emulation of QM at drastically reduced computational cost. The accuracy and robustness of an ML potential is primarily limited by the quality and diversity of the training dataset. Using the principles of active learning (AL), we present a highly automated approach to dataset construction. The strategy is to use the ML potential under development to sample new atomic configurations and, whenever a configuration is reached for which the ML uncertainty is sufficiently large, collect new QM data. Here, we seek to push the limits of automation, removing as much expert knowledge from the AL process as possible. All sampling is performed using MD simulations starting from an initially disordered configuration, and undergoing non-equilibrium dynamics as driven by time-varying applied temperatures. We demonstrate this approach by building an ML potential for aluminum (ANI-Al). After many AL iterations, ANI-Al teaches itself to predict properties like the radial distribution function in melt, liquid-solid coexistence curve, and crystal properties such as defect energies and barriers. To demonstrate transferability, we perform a 1.3M atom shock simulation, and show that ANI-Al predictions agree very well with DFT calculations on local atomic environments sampled from the nonequilibrium dynamics. Interestingly, the configurations appearing in shock appear to have been well sampled in the AL training dataset, in a way that we illustrate visually.
We have observed 28 heteronuclear Feshbach resonances in 10 spin combinations of the hyperfine ground states of a 40K 87Rb mixture. The measurements were performed by observing the loss rates from an atomic mixture at magnetic fields between 0 and 70
0 G. This data was used to significantly refine an interatomic potential derived from molecular spectroscopy, yielding a highly consistent model of the KRb interaction. Thus, the measured resonances can be assigned to the corresponding molecular states. In addition, this potential allows for an accurate calculation of the energy differences between highly excited levels and the rovibrational ground level. This information is of particular relevance for the formation of deeply bound heteronuclear molecules. Finally, the model is used to predict Feshbach resonances in mixtures of 87Rb combined with 39K or 41K.