Phase-field-crystal model for magnetocrystalline interactions in isotropic ferromagnetic solids

Ab initio generalized Langevin equation

We introduce a machine learning-based approach called ab initio generalized Langevin equation (AIGLE) to model the dynamics of slow collective variables (CVs) in materials and molecules. In this scheme, the parameters are learned from atomistic simulations based on ab initio quantum mechanical models. Force field, memory kernel, and noise generator are constructed in the context of the Mori-Zwanzig formalism, under the constraint of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. Combined with deep potential molecular dynamics and electronic density functional theory, this approach opens the way to multiscale modeling in a variety of situations. Here, we demonstrate this capability with a study of two mesoscale processes in crystalline lead titanate, namely the field-driven dynamics of a planar ferroelectric domain wall, and the dynamics of an extensive lattice of coarse-grained electric dipoles. In the first case, AIGLE extends the reach of ab initio simulations to a regime of noise-driven motions not accessible to molecular dynamics. In the second case, AIGLE deals with an extensive set of CVs by adopting a local approximation for the memory kernel and retaining only short-range noise correlations. The scheme is computationally more efficient than molecular dynamics by several orders of magnitude and mimics the microscopic dynamics at low frequencies where it reproduces accurately the dominant far-infrared absorption frequency.

Enabling simulations of grains within a full rotation range in amplitude expansion of the phase-field crystal model

This paper introduces improvements to the amplitude expansion of the phase-field crystal model that enable the simulation of grains within a full range of orientations. The unphysical grain boundary between grains, rotated by a crystal's symmetry rotation, is removed using a combination of the auxiliary rotation field described in our previous work and an algorithm that correctly matches the complex amplitudes according to the differences in local rotation.

Phase-field crystal for an antiferromagnet with elastic interactions

We introduce a model which contains the essential elements to formulate and study antiferromagnetism, using the phase-field crystal framework. We focus on the question of how magneto-elastic coupling could lift the frustration in the two-dimensional hexagonal antiferromagnetic phase. Using simulations we observe a rich variety of different phases stable in this model. To characterize different phases we calculate the chiral order parameter and identify the scaling behavior of this order parameter. Furthermore, we observe that vortices appear and are stable close to the nonmagnetic defects. Finally, we studied the ferrimagnetic and spin-flop phase transition in the presence of an external magnetic field.

Controlling Grain Boundaries by Magnetic Fields

The ability to use external magnetic fields to influence the microstructure in polycrystalline materials has potential applications in microstructural engineering. To explore this potential and to understand the complex interactions between electromagnetic fields and solid-state matter transport we consider a phase-field-crystal model. Together with efficient and scalable numerical algorithms this allows the examination of the role that external magnetic fields play on the evolution of defect structures and grain boundaries, on diffusive timescales. Examples for planar and circular grain boundaries explain the essential atomistic processes and large scale simulations in 2D are used to obtain statistical data on grain growth under the influence of external fields.

Phase-field-crystal model for ordered crystals

We describe a general method to model multicomponent ordered crystals using the phase-field-crystal (PFC) formalism. As a test case, a generic B2 compound is investigated. We are able to produce a line of either first-order or second-order order-disorder phase transitions, features that have not been incorporated in existing PFC approaches. Further, it is found that the only elastic constant for B2 that depends on ordering is C_{11}. This B2 model is then used to study antiphase boundaries (APBs). The APBs are shown to reproduce classical mean-field results. Dynamical simulations of ordering across small-angle grain boundaries predict that dislocation cores pin the evolution of APBs.