Introduction

Overview

SALMON is an open-source computer program for ab-initio quantum-mechanical calculations of electron dynamics at the nanoscale that takes place in various situations of light-matter interactions. It is based on time-dependent density functional theory, solving time-dependent Kohn-Sham equation in real time and real space with norm-conserving pseudopotentials.

SALMON was born by unifying two scientific programs: ARTED, developed by Univ. Tsukuba group, that describes electron dynamics in crystalline solids, and GCEED, developed by Institute for Molecular Science group, that describes electron dynamics in molecules and nanostructures. It can thus describe electron dynamics in both isolated and periodic systems. It can also describe coupled dynamics of electrons and light-wave electromagnetic fields.

To run the program, SALMON requires MPI Fortran/C compiller with LAPACK libraries. SALMON has been tested and optimized to run in a number of platforms, including Linux PC Cluster with x86-64 CPU, supercomputer systems with Fujitsu FX100 and A64FX processors, and supercomputer system with Intel Xeon Phi (Knights Landing).

SALMON features

In the microscopic scale, SALMON describes electron dynamics in both isolated (molecules and nanostructures) and periodic (crystalline solids) systems, solving time-dependent Kohn-Sham equation in real time and real space with norm-conserving pseudopotential. SALMON first carries out ground-state calculations in the density functional theory to prepare initial configurations. SALMON then calculates electron dynamics induced by applied electric field. Employing a weak impulsive external field, SALMON can be used to calculate linear response properties such as a polarizability of molecules and a dielectric function of crystalline solids. Using pulsed electric fields, SALMON describes electron dynamics in matters induced by intense and ultrashort laser pulses.

SALMON is also capable of describing a propagation of electromagnetic fields of light using finite-difference time-domain method. As a unique feature of SALMON, it is possible to carry out calculations of a coupled dynamics of light electromagnetic fields and electron dynamics simultaneously.

Efficient parallelizations are implemented in the code by dividing spatial grids, orbital index, and k-points. SALMON shows a good scalability when it runs in parallel supercomputers, both for the ground state and the time evolution calculations.

  • Ground state calculations
    • Kohn-Sham orbitals and energies
    • density of states
    • projected density of states
    • electron localization function
  • Optical properties
    • Oscillator strength distribution (absorption spectrum)
    • dielectric function
  • Light-induced electron dynamics
    • time evolution of Kohn-Sham orbitals
    • density, current
    • excitation energy
    • number density of excited carriers
  • Propagation of light electromagnetic fields
    • Drude-Lorentz model
    • optical response of metasurfaces
  • Simultaneous description of electron dynamics and light pulse propagation
    • light pulse propagation as well as time evolution of Kohn-Sham orbitals
    • energy transfer from pulsed light to electrons

License

SALMON is available under Apache License version 2.0.

Copyright 2017 SALMON developers

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.

SALMON at Github

SALMON is developed at GitHub.com

List of developers

(Alphabetic order)

  • Yuta Hirokawa (University of Tsukuba, Japan)
  • Kenji Iida (Hokkaido University, Japan)
  • Tomohito Otobe (National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, Japan)
  • Shunsuke Sato (University of Tsukuba, Japan)
  • Yasushi Shinohara (University of Tokyo, Japan)
  • Takashi Takeuchi (University of Tsukuba, Japan)
  • Mitsuharu Uemoto (Kobe University, Japan)
  • Kazuhiro Yabana (University of Tsukuba, Japan)
  • Atsushi Yamada (University of Tsukuba, Japan)
  • Shunsuke Yamada (University of Tsukuba, Japan)

Former developers

  • Isabella Floss
  • Kazuya Ishimura
  • Kyung-Min Lee
  • Katsuyuki Nobusada
  • Masashi Noda
  • Xiao-Min Tong
  • Maiku Yamaguchi

Acknowledgements for SALMON developments

SALMON has been developed by the SALMON developers under supports by Center for Computational Sciences, University of Tsukuba, and National Institute for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology. SALMON has been supported by Strategic Basic Research Programs, CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency, under the Grand Number JPMJCR16N5, in the research area of Advanced core technology for creation and practical utilization of innovative properties and functions based upon optics and photonics. SALMON was also supported by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Technology of Japan as a social and scientific priority issue (Creation of new functional devices and high-performance materials to support next-generation industries: CDMSI) to be tackled by using post-K computer.