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Topology is fundamental to condensed matter physics, underlying phenomena such as the quantum Hall effect in its various forms, protected surface states and spin-valley locking. Central to this is the Berry curvature, a measure of the geometric properties of Bloch wavefunctions in crystals. Despite its established connections to space inversion and time-reversal symmetries, a comprehensive framework linking the Berry curvature to other crystal symmetries is still missing. Here, we present a theoretical model for the Jacobian matrix of the Berry curvature in the proximity of optical resonances for all non-magnetic crystal classes. The Jacobian matrix of the Berry curvature is readily derived from the second-order nonlinear optical susceptibilities of the time-invariant point groups. We show that the diagonal elements of the Jacobian matrix, which define the divergence of the Berry curvature, are non-zero only for the chiral crystal classes, pointing towards a topological origin of circular dichroism. In polar crystals, we uniquely find a non-zero curl of the Berry curvature, suggesting a topological origin of spontaneous polarization via the Maxwell-Berry equations. Our findings thus open new perspectives for the topological interpretation of textbook phenomena at the heart of condensed matter physics.

Single-molecule junctions - nanoscale systems where a molecule is connected to metallic electrodes - offer a unique platform for studying charge, spin and energy transport in non-equilibrium many-body quantum systems, with few parallels in other areas of condensed matter physics. Over the past decades, these systems have revealed a wide range of remarkable quantum phenomena, including quantum interference, non-equilibrium spin-crossover, diode-like behavior, or chiral-induced spin selectivity, among many others. To develop a detailed understanding, it turned out essential to have available ab initio-based tools for accurately describing quantum transport in such systems. They need to be capable of capturing the intricate electronic structure of molecules, sometimes in the presence of electron-electron or electron-phonon interactions, in out-of-equilibrium environments. Such tools are indispensable also for experimentally observed phenomena explained in terms of parametrized tight-binding models for the quantum transport problem. While FHI-aims also offers specialized transport routines, e.g. for chemically functionalized nanotubes or nanotube networks, our focus in this section is on the AITRANSS package designed for simulations of single-molecule transport. AITRANSS is an independent post-processing tool that combined with FHI-aims enables the calculation of electronic transport properties, as well as atom-projected density of states, spin properties and the simulation of scanning tunneling microscope images in molecular junctions. Pilot versions of the code extend some of these capabilities to non-linear transport in the applied bias, with plans to include these features in future releases of the package., Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures. This is a contribution/chapter to the upcoming "Roadmap on Advancements of the FHI-aims Software Package"

The $GW$ approximation is a widely used method for computing electron addition and removal energies of molecules and solids. The computational effort of conventional $GW$ algorithms increases as $O(N^4)$ with the system size $N$, hindering the application of $GW$ to large and complex systems. Low-scaling $GW$ algorithms are currently very actively developed. Benchmark studies at the single-shot $G_0W_0$ level indicate excellent numerical precision for frontier quasiparticle energies, with mean absolute deviations $<10$ meV between low-scaling and standard implementations for the widely used $GW100$ test set. A notable challenge for low-scaling $GW$ algorithms remains in achieving high precision for five molecules within the $GW100$ test set, namely O$_3$, BeO, MgO, BN, and CuCN, for which the deviations are in the range of several hundred meV at the $G_0W_0$ level. This is due to a spurious transfer of spectral weight from the quasiparticle to the satellite spectrum in $G_0W_0$ calculations, resulting in multi-pole features in the self-energy and spectral function, which low-scaling algorithms fail to describe. We show in this work that including eigenvalue self-consistency in the Green's function ($\text{ev}GW_0$) achieves a proper separation between satellite and quasiparticle peak, leading to a single solution of the quasiparticle equation with spectral weight close to one. $\text{ev}GW_0$ quasiparticles energies from low-scaling $GW$ closely align with reference calculations; the mean absolute error is only 12 meV for the five molecules. We thus demonstrate that low-scaling $GW$ with self-consistency in $G$ is well-suited for computing frontier quasiparticle energies.

Electronic structure calculations based on many-body perturbation theory (e.g. GW or the random-phase approximation (RPA)) require function evaluations in the complex time and frequency domain, for example inhomogeneous Fourier transforms or analytic continuation from the imaginary axis to the real axis. For inhomogeneous Fourier transforms, the time-frequency component of the GreenX library provides time-frequency grids that can be utilized in low-scaling RPA and GW implementations. In addition, the adoption of the compact frequency grids provided by our library also reduces the computational overhead in RPA implementations with conventional scaling. In this work, we present low-scaling GW and conventional RPA benchmark calculations using the GreenX grids with different codes (FHI-aims, CP2K and ABINIT) for molecules, two-dimensional materials and solids. Very small integration errors are observed when using 30 time-frequency points for our test cases, namely $<10^{-8}$ eV/electron for the RPA correlation energies, and 10 meV for the GW quasiparticle energies., Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures

Experimental indications have been reported suggesting that laser pulses shining on materials with relativistic dispersion can produce currents that survive long after the illumination has died out. Such residual currents ('remnants') have applications in petahertz logical gates. The remnants' strength strongly depends on the pulse-shape. We develop an analytical formula that allows to optimize the pulse-shape for remnant production; we predict remnants exceeding the values observed so far by orders of magnitude. In fact, remnants can be almost as strong as the peak current under irradiation.

The $GW$ method is widely used for calculating the electronic band structure of materials. The high computational cost of $GW$ algorithms prohibits their application to many systems of interest. We present a periodic, low-scaling and highly efficient $GW$ algorithm that benefits from the locality of the Gaussian basis and the polarizability. The algorithm enables $G_0W_0$ calculations on a MoSe$_2$/WS$_2$ bilayer with 984 atoms per unit cell, in 42 hours using 1536 cores. This is four orders of magnitude faster than a plane-wave $G_0W_0$ algorithm, allowing for unprecedented computational studies of electronic excitations at the nanoscale.

High harmonic generation (HHG) is a versatile technique for probing ultrafast electron dynamics. While HHG is sensitive to the electronic properties of the target, HHG also depends on the waveform of the laser pulse. As is well known, (peak) positions, $\omega$, in the high-harmonic spectrum can shift when the carrier envelope phase (CEP), $\varphi$ is varied. We derive formulae describing the corresponding parametric dependencies of CEP shifts; in particular, we have a transparent result for the (peak) shift, $d\omega/d\varphi = {-} 2 \bar{\mathfrak f}' \omega/\omega_0$, where $\omega_0$ describes the fundamental frequency and $\bar{\mathfrak f}'$ characterizes the chirp of the driving laser pulse. We compare the analytical formula to full-fledged numerical simulations finding only 17 % average relative absolute deviation in $d\omega/d\varphi$. Our analytical result is fully consistent with experimental observations.

The electronic, optical and magnetic properties of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) can be engineered by controlling their edge structure and width with atomic precision through bottom-up fabrication based on molecular precursors. This approach offers a unique platform for all-carbon electronic devices but requires careful optimization of the growth conditions to match structural requirements for successful device integration, with GNR length being the most critical parameter. In this work, we study the growth, characterization, and device integration of 5-atom wide armchair GNRs (5-AGNRs), which are expected to have an optimal band gap as active material in switching devices. 5-AGNRs are obtained via on-surface synthesis under ultra-high vacuum conditions from Br- and I-substituted precursors. We show that the use of I-substituted precursors and the optimization of the initial precursor coverage quintupled the average 5-AGNR length. This significant length increase allowed us to integrate 5-AGNRs into devices and to realize the first field-effect transistor based on narrow bandgap AGNRs that shows switching behavior at room temperature. Our study highlights that optimized growth protocols can successfully bridge between the sub-nanometer scale, where atomic precision is needed to control the electronic properties, and the scale of tens of nanometers relevant for successful device integration of GNRs.

The GW approximation of many-body perturbation theory is an accurate method for computing electron addition and removal energies of molecules and solids. In a canonical implementation, however, its computational cost is $O(N^4)$ in the system size N, which prohibits its application to many systems of interest. We present a full-frequency GW algorithm in a Gaussian type basis, whose computational cost scales with $N^2$ to $N^3$. The implementation is optimized for massively parallel execution on state-of-the-art supercomputers and is suitable for nanostructures and molecules in the gas, liquid or condensed phase, using either pseudopotentials or all electrons. We validate the accuracy of the algorithm on the GW100 molecular test set, finding mean absolute deviations of 35 meV for ionization potentials and 27 meV for electron affinities. Furthermore, we study the length-dependence of quasiparticle energies in armchair graphene nanoribbons of up to 1734 atoms in size, and compute the local density of states across a nanoscale heterojunction.

$GW$ is an accurate method for computing electron addition and removal energies of molecules and solids. In a conventional $GW$ implementation, however, its computational cost is $O(N^4)$ in the system size $N$, which prohibits its application to many systems of interest. We present a low-scaling $GW$ algorithm with notably improved accuracy compared to our previous algorithm [J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2018, 9, 306-312]. This is demonstrated for frontier orbitals using the $GW100$ benchmark set, for which our algorithm yields a mean absolute deviation of only 6 meV with respect to canonical implementations. We show that also excitations of deep valence, semi-core and unbound states match conventional schemes within 0.1 eV. The high accuracy is achieved by using minimax grids with 30 grid points and the resolution of the identity with the truncated Coulomb metric. We apply the low-scaling $GW$ algorithm with improved accuracy to phosphorene nanosheets of increasing size. We find that their fundamental gap is strongly size-dependent varying from 4.0 eV (1.8 nm $\times$ 1.3 nm, 88 atoms) to 2.4 eV (6.9 nm $\times$ 4.8 nm, 990 atoms) at the $\text{ev}GW_0$@PBE level.

We rederive the semiconductor Bloch equations emphasizing the close link to the Berry connection. Our rigorous derivation reveals the existence of two further contributions to the current, in addition to the frequently considered intraband and polarization-related interband terms. The extra contributions become sizable in situations with strong dephasing or when the dipole-matrix elements are strongly wave-number dependent. We apply the formalism to high-harmonic generation for a Dirac metal. The extra terms add to the frequency-dependent emission intensity (high-harmonic spectrum) significantly at certain frequencies changing the total signal up to a factor of 10.

CP2K is an open source electronic structure and molecular dynamics software package to perform atomistic simulations of solid-state, liquid, molecular and biological systems. It is especially aimed at massively-parallel and linear-scaling electronic structure methods and state-of-the-art ab-initio molecular dynamics simulations. Excellent performance for electronic structure calculations is achieved using novel algorithms implemented for modern high-performance computing systems. This review revisits the main capabilities of CP2k to perform efficient and accurate electronic structure simulations. The emphasis is put on density functional theory and multiple post-Hartree-Fock methods using the Gaussian and plane wave approach and its augmented all-electron extension., Comment: 51 pages, 5 figures