Customizing cluster spaces

When analyzing a structure icet uses all available crystal symmetries to determine which clusters are symmetry equivalent and hence belong to the same orbit. This is a rigorous and well defined procedure. For systems of lower symmetry, it can, however, lead to a large number of orbits and hence ECIs. At the same time, one can often still find “local” symmetries in these systems and physical (or chemical) intuition tells us that the parameters associated with such clusters should be very similar (even if they are not strictly identical).

Motivating example

For illustration consider the construction of a model for a (111) FCC surface. Using ase we can readily construct a 10-layer slab representing such a system and construct a corresponding cluster space.

structure = fcc111('Au', size=(1, 1, 10), a=4.1, vacuum=10, periodic=True)
cs = ClusterSpace(structure=structure, cutoffs=[4.2], chemical_symbols=['Au', 'Ag'])
print(cs)
====================================== Cluster Space ======================================
 space group                            : P-3m1 (164)
 chemical species                       : ['Ag', 'Au'] (sublattice A)
 cutoffs                                : 4.2000
 total number of parameters             : 21
 number of parameters by order          : 0= 1  1= 5  2= 15
 fractional_position_tolerance          : 1e-06
 position_tolerance                     : 1e-05
 symprec                                : 1e-05
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
index | order |  radius  | multiplicity | orbit_index | multicomponent_vector | sublattices
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   0  |   0   |   0.0000 |        1     |      -1     |           .           |      .
   1  |   1   |   0.0000 |        2     |       0     |          [0]          |      A
   2  |   1   |   0.0000 |        2     |       1     |          [0]          |      A
   3  |   1   |   0.0000 |        2     |       2     |          [0]          |      A
   4  |   1   |   0.0000 |        2     |       3     |          [0]          |      A
   5  |   1   |   0.0000 |        2     |       4     |          [0]          |      A
   6  |   2   |   1.4496 |        3     |       5     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
   7  |   2   |   1.4496 |        6     |       6     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
   8  |   2   |   1.4496 |        6     |       7     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
   9  |   2   |   1.4496 |        6     |       8     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
  10  |   2   |   1.4496 |        6     |       9     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
  11  |   2   |   1.4496 |        6     |      10     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
  12  |   2   |   1.4496 |        6     |      11     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
  13  |   2   |   1.4496 |        6     |      12     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
  14  |   2   |   1.4496 |        6     |      13     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
  15  |   2   |   1.4496 |        6     |      14     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
  16  |   2   |   2.0500 |        3     |      15     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
  17  |   2   |   2.0500 |        6     |      16     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
  18  |   2   |   2.0500 |        6     |      17     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
  19  |   2   |   2.0500 |        6     |      18     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
  20  |   2   |   2.0500 |        6     |      19     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
===========================================================================================

This cluster space comprises 5 singlets and 15 pairs. For this binary system one thus obtains 21 ECIs (including the zerolet). In practice, one would typically use longer cutoffs and higher orders, leading to an even larger number of parameters.

Inspect orbits

We can use the get_coordinates_of_representative_cluster() method to look up the representative cluster for each orbit and thus sort out which singlet corresponds to which layer.

Note

The argument of get_coordinates_of_representative_cluster() is the index of the orbit in the orbit list, i.e. the value from the orbit_index column that is shown when printing a ClusterSpace object.

for k in range(0, 5):
    pos = cs.get_coordinates_of_representative_cluster(k)[0]
    print(f'orbit_index: {k}  pos: {pos[0]:7.3f} {pos[1]:7.3f} {pos[2]:7.3f}')
orbit_index: 0  pos:   0.000   0.000  10.000
orbit_index: 1  pos:   1.450   0.837  12.367
orbit_index: 2  pos:  -0.000   1.674  14.734
orbit_index: 3  pos:   0.000   0.000  17.101
orbit_index: 4  pos:   1.450   0.837  19.469

In this case, there is one singlet for each symmetry inequivalent layer with the first/second/third… singlet corresponding to the first/second/third… layer. Based on physical intuition, we can expect corresponding clusters in the center of the slab to behave nearly identical, i.e. the ECIs associated with, say, the fourth and fifth singlets should be very close if not identical, and similarly for pairs, triplets etc.

Merge orbits

To handle such situations, icet allows one to merge orbits via the merge_orbits method. Which orbits should be merged is entirely up to the user. In the present example, one could for example merge the singlets for the third, fourth, and fifth layers, effectively treating them as bulk sites, while keeping the singlets for the first two layers distinct. The following snippet achieves this by merging the orbits with indices 3 and 4 into the one with index 2 (compare output above).

cs.merge_orbits({2: [3, 4]})
print(cs)
 ====================================== Cluster Space ======================================
  space group                            : P-3m1 (164)
  chemical species                       : ['Ag', 'Au'] (sublattice A)
  cutoffs                                : 4.2000
  total number of parameters             : 19
  number of parameters by order          : 0= 1  1= 3  2= 15
  fractional_position_tolerance          : 1e-06
  position_tolerance                     : 1e-05
  symprec                                : 1e-05
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 index | order |  radius  | multiplicity | orbit_index | multicomponent_vector | sublattices
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    0  |   0   |   0.0000 |        1     |      -1     |           .           |      .
    1  |   1   |   0.0000 |        2     |       0     |          [0]          |      A
    2  |   1   |   0.0000 |        2     |       1     |          [0]          |      A
    3  |   1   |   0.0000 |        6     |       2     |          [0]          |      A
    4  |   2   |   1.4496 |        3     |       3     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
    5  |   2   |   1.4496 |        6     |       4     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
    6  |   2   |   1.4496 |        6     |       5     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
    7  |   2   |   1.4496 |        6     |       6     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
    8  |   2   |   1.4496 |        6     |       7     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
    9  |   2   |   1.4496 |        6     |       8     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
   10  |   2   |   1.4496 |        6     |       9     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
   11  |   2   |   1.4496 |        6     |      10     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
   12  |   2   |   1.4496 |        6     |      11     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
   13  |   2   |   1.4496 |        6     |      12     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
   14  |   2   |   2.0500 |        3     |      13     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
   15  |   2   |   2.0500 |        6     |      14     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
   16  |   2   |   2.0500 |        6     |      15     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
   17  |   2   |   2.0500 |        6     |      16     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
   18  |   2   |   2.0500 |        6     |      17     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
 ===========================================================================================

There are now only 3 singlets but we are still left with 10 first and 5 second-nearest neighbor orbits. Applying a similar logic as above, we could now decide to merge the bulk orbits and keep only those orbits distinct that involve the first surface layer. To this end, we inspect the representative clusters of all pair orbits.

for k in range(len(cs) - 1):
    coords = cs.get_coordinates_of_representative_cluster(k)
    if len(coords) != 2:
        continue
    print(f'orbit_index: {k}   order: {len(coords)}')
    for m, pos in enumerate(coords):
        print(f'  site: {m}   pos: {pos[0]:7.3f} {pos[1]:7.3f} {pos[2]:7.3f}')
 orbit_index: 3   order: 2
   site: 0   pos:   0.000  -1.674  19.469
   site: 1   pos:  -1.450  -0.837  21.836
 orbit_index: 4   order: 2
   site: 0   pos:  -1.450  -2.511  10.000
   site: 1   pos:   0.000   0.000  10.000
 orbit_index: 5   order: 2
   site: 0   pos:   0.000   0.000  10.000
   site: 1   pos:   0.000  -1.674  12.367
 ...
 orbit_index: 14   order: 2
   site: 0   pos:   1.450  -2.511  10.000
   site: 1   pos:   1.450   0.837  12.367
 orbit_index: 15   order: 2
   site: 0   pos:   0.000  -1.674  12.367
   site: 1   pos:  -0.000   1.674  14.734
 ...

According to this analysis, orbits 4, 5 and 14 are related to interactions involving the surface layer. We can thus keep these orbits separate and merge all remaining ones.

cs.merge_orbits({3: [k for k in range(6, 13)],
                 13: [k for k in range(15, 18)]})
print(cs)
 ====================================== Cluster Space ======================================
  space group                            : P-3m1 (164)
  chemical species                       : ['Ag', 'Au'] (sublattice A)
  cutoffs                                : 4.2000
  total number of parameters             : 9
  number of parameters by order          : 0= 1  1= 3  2= 5
  fractional_position_tolerance          : 1e-06
  position_tolerance                     : 1e-05
  symprec                                : 1e-05
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 index | order |  radius  | multiplicity | orbit_index | multicomponent_vector | sublattices
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    0  |   0   |   0.0000 |        1     |      -1     |           .           |      .
    1  |   1   |   0.0000 |        2     |       0     |          [0]          |      A
    2  |   1   |   0.0000 |        2     |       1     |          [0]          |      A
    3  |   1   |   0.0000 |        6     |       2     |          [0]          |      A
    4  |   2   |   1.4496 |       45     |       3     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
    5  |   2   |   1.4496 |        6     |       4     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
    6  |   2   |   1.4496 |        6     |       5     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
    7  |   2   |   2.0500 |       21     |       6     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
    8  |   2   |   2.0500 |        6     |       7     |        [0, 0]         |     A-A
 ===========================================================================================

By merging singlet and pair orbits we have cut the number of parameters by more than half, from 21 to 9. As a final check we can print all the representative clusters.

for k in range(len(cs) - 1):
    coords = cs.get_coordinates_of_representative_cluster(k)
    print(f'orbit_index: {k}   order: {len(coords)}')
    for m, pos in enumerate(coords):
        print(f'  site: {m}   pos: {pos[0]:7.3f} {pos[1]:7.3f} {pos[2]:7.3f}')
 orbit_index: 0   order: 1
   site: 0   pos:   0.000   0.000  10.000
 orbit_index: 1   order: 1
   site: 0   pos:   1.450   0.837  12.367
 orbit_index: 2   order: 1
   site: 0   pos:  -0.000   1.674  14.734
 orbit_index: 3   order: 2
   site: 0   pos:   0.000  -1.674  19.469
   site: 1   pos:  -1.450  -0.837  21.836
 orbit_index: 4   order: 2
   site: 0   pos:  -1.450  -2.511  10.000
   site: 1   pos:   0.000   0.000  10.000
 orbit_index: 5   order: 2
   site: 0   pos:   0.000   0.000  10.000
   site: 1   pos:   0.000  -1.674  12.367
 orbit_index: 6   order: 2
   site: 0   pos:   0.000  -1.674  19.469
   site: 1   pos:  -0.000   1.674  21.836
 orbit_index: 7   order: 2
   site: 0   pos:   1.450  -2.511  10.000
   site: 1   pos:   1.450   0.837  12.367

The cluster space obtained in this fashion can be used for constructing and sampling cluster expansions in exactly the same way as if no orbits had been merged.