The following sections will list and explain the input file keywords.
- General Settings and Log
- Geometry
- Heisenberg Hamiltonian
- Gaussian Hamiltonian
- Method Output
- Method Parameters
- Pinning
- Disorder and Defects
### Add a tag to output files (for timestamp use "<time>")
output_file_tag some_tag### Save input parameters on creation of State
log_input_save_initial 0
### Save input parameters on deletion of State
log_input_save_final 0
### Print log messages to the console
log_to_console 1
### Print messages up to (including) log_console_level
log_console_level 5
### Save the log as a file
log_to_file 1
### Save messages up to (including) log_file_level
log_file_level 5Except for SEVERE and ERROR, only log messages up to
log_console_level will be printed and only messages up to
log_file_level will be saved.
If log_to_file, however is set to zero, no file is written
at all.
| Log Levels | Integer | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ALL | 0 | Everything |
| SEVERE | 1 | Only severe errors |
| ERROR | 2 | Also non-fatal errors |
| WARNING | 3 | Also warnings |
| PARAMETER | 4 | Also input parameters |
| INFO | 5 | Also info-messages |
| DEBUG | 6 | Also deeper debug-info |
The Geometry of a spin system is specified in form of a bravais lattice and a basis cell of atoms. The number of basis cells along each principal direction of the basis can be specified. Note: the default basis is a single atom at (0,0,0).
3D simple cubic example:
### The bravais lattice type
bravais_lattice sc
### µSpin
mu_s 2.0
### Number of basis cells along principal
### directions (a b c)
n_basis_cells 100 100 10If you have a nontrivial basis cell, note that you should specify mu_s
for all atoms in your basis cell (see the next example).
2D honeycomb example:
### The bravais lattice type
bravais_lattice hex2d
### The basis cell in units of bravais vectors
### n No of spins in the basis cell
### 1.x 1.y 1.z position of spins within basis
### 2.x 2.y 2.z cell in terms of bravais vectors
basis
2
0 0 0
0.33333333 0.3333333 0
### µSpin
mu_s 2.0 1.0
### Number of basis cells along principal
### directions (a b c)
n_basis_cells 100 100 1The bravais lattice can be one of the following:
| Bravais Lattice Type | Keyword | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Simple cubic | sc | |
| Body-centered cubic | bcc | |
| Face-centered cubic | fcc | |
| Hexagonal (2D) | hex2d | 60deg angle |
| Hexagonal (2D) | hex2d60 | 60deg angle |
| Hexagonal (2D) | hex2d120 | 120deg angle |
| Hexagonal closely packed | hcp | 120deg, not yet implemented |
| Hexagonal densely packed | hdp | 60deg, not yet implemented |
| Rhombohedral | rho | not yet implemented |
| Simple-tetragonal | stet | not yet implemented |
| Simple-orthorhombic | so | not yet implemented |
| Simple-monoclinic | sm | not yet implemented |
| Simple triclinic | stri | not yet implemented |
Alternatively it can be input manually, either through vectors or as the bravais matrix:
### bravais_vectors or bravais_matrix
### a.x a.y a.z a.x b.x c.x
### b.x b.y b.z a.y b.y c.y
### c.x c.y c.z a.z b.z c.z
bravais_vectors
1.0 0.0 0.0
0.0 1.0 0.0
0.0 0.0 1.0A lattice constant can be used for scaling:
### Scaling constant
lattice_constant 1.0Note that it scales the Bravais vectors and therefore the translations, atom positions in the basis cell and potentially -- if you specified them in terms of the Bravais vectors -- also the anisotropy and DM vectors.
Units:
The Bravais vectors (or matrix) are specified in Cartesian coordinates in units of Angstrom. The basis atoms are specified in units of the Bravais vectors.
The atomic moments mu_s are specified in units of the Bohr magneton mu_B.
To use a Heisenberg Hamiltonian, use either heisenberg_neighbours or heisenberg_pairs
as input parameter after the hamiltonian keyword.
The Hamiltonian is defined as
where <ij> denotes the unique pairs of interacting spins i and j.
For more details, such as the notation used here, see Phys. Rev. B 99 224414 (2019).
General Parameters:
### Hamiltonian Type (heisenberg_neighbours, heisenberg_pairs, gaussian)
hamiltonian heisenberg_neighbours
### Boundary conditions (in a b c) = 0(open), 1(periodical)
boundary_conditions 1 1 0
### External magnetic field [T]
external_field_magnitude 25.0
external_field_normal 0.0 0.0 1.0
### Uniaxial anisotropy constant [meV]
anisotropy_magnitude 0.0
anisotropy_normal 0.0 0.0 1.0
### Dipole-dipole interaction caclulation method
### (none, fft, fmm, cutoff)
ddi_method fft
### DDI number of periodic images (fft and fmm) in (a b c)
ddi_n_periodic_images 4 4 4
### DDI cutoff radius (if cutoff is used)
ddi_radius 0.0
ddi_pb_zero_padding 1.0Anisotropy:
By specifying a number of anisotropy axes via n_anisotropy, one
or more anisotropy axes can be set for the atoms in the basis cell. Specify columns
via headers: an index i and an axis Kx Ky Kz or Ka Kb Kc, as well as optionally
a magnitude K.
Dipole-Dipole Interaction:
Via the keyword ddi_method the method employed to calculate the dipole-dipole interactions is specified.
`none` - Dipole-Dipole interactions are neglected
`fft` - Uses a fast convolution method to accelerate the calculation (RECOMMENDED)
`cutoff` - Lets only spins within a maximal distance of 'ddi_radius' interact
`fmm` - Uses the Fast-Multipole-Method (NOT YET IMPLEMENTED!)
If the cutoff-method has been chosen the cutoff-radius can be specified via ddi_radius.
Note: If ddi_radius < 0 a direct summation (i.e. brute force) over the whole system is performed. This is very inefficient and only encouraged for very small systems and/or unit-testing/debugging.
If the boundary conditions are periodic ddi_n_periodic_images specifies how many images are taken in the respective direction.
Note: The images are appended on both sides (the edges get filled too)
i.e. 1 0 0 -> one image in +a direction and one image in -a direction
If the boundary conditions are open in a lattice direction and sufficiently many periodic images are chosen, zero-padding in that direction can be skipped.
This improves the speed and memory footprint of the calculation, but comes at the cost of a very slight asymmetry in the interactions (decreasing with increasing periodic images).
If ddi_pb_zero_padding is set to 1, zero-padding is performed - even if the boundary condition is periodic in a direction. If it is set to 0, zero-padding is skipped.
Neighbour shells:
Using hamiltonian heisenberg_neighbours, pair-wise interactions are handled in terms of
(isotropic) neighbour shells:
### Hamiltonian Type (heisenberg_neighbours, heisenberg_pairs, gaussian)
hamiltonian heisenberg_neighbours
### Exchange: number of shells and constants [meV / unique pair]
n_shells_exchange 2
jij 10.0 1.0
### Chirality of DM vectors (+/-1=bloch, +/-2=neel)
dm_chirality 2
### DMI: number of shells and constants [meV / unique pair]
n_shells_dmi 2
dij 6.0 0.5Note that pair-wise interaction parameters always mean energy per unique pair <ij> (i.e. not per neighbour).
Specify Pairs:
Using hamiltonian heisenberg_pairs, you may input interactions explicitly,
in form of unique pairs <ij>, giving you more granular control over the system and
the ability to specify non-isotropic interactions:
### Hamiltonian Type (heisenberg_neighbours, heisenberg_pairs, gaussian)
hamiltonian heisenberg_pairs
### Pairs
n_interaction_pairs 3
i j da db dc Jij Dij Dijx Dijy Dijz
0 0 1 0 0 10.0 6.0 1.0 0.0 0.0
0 0 0 1 0 10.0 6.0 0.0 1.0 0.0
0 0 0 0 1 10.0 6.0 0.0 0.0 1.0
### Quadruplets
n_interaction_quadruplets 1
i j da_j db_j dc_j k da_k db_k dc_k l da_l db_l dc_l Q
0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 3.0Note that pair-wise interaction parameters always mean energy per unique pair <ij> (not per neighbour).
Pairs:
Leaving out either exchange or DMI in the pairs is allowed and columns can
be placed in arbitrary order.
Note that instead of specifying the DM-vector as Dijx Dijy Dijz, you may specify it as
Dija Dijb Dijc if you prefer. You may also specify the magnitude separately as a column
Dij, but note that if you do, the vector (e.g. Dijx Dijy Dijz) will be normalized.
Quadruplets: Columns for these may also be placed in arbitrary order.
Separate files:
The anisotropy, pairs and quadruplets can be placed into separate files,
you can use anisotropy_from_file, pairs_from_file and quadruplets_from_file.
If the headers for anisotropies, pairs or quadruplets are at the top of the respective file,
it is not necessary to specify n_anisotropy, n_interaction_pairs or n_interaction_quadruplets
respectively.
### Pairs
interaction_pairs_file input/pairs.txt
### Quadruplets
interaction_quadruplets_file input/quadruplets.txtNote that the quadruplet interaction is defined as
Units:
The external field is specified in Tesla, while anisotropy is specified in meV. Pairwise interactions are specified in meV per unique pair <ij>, while quadruplets are specified in meV per unique quadruplet <ijkl>.
Note that you select the Hamiltonian you use with the hamiltonian gaussian input option.
This is a testing Hamiltonian consisting of the superposition of gaussian potentials. It does not contain interactions.
hamiltonian gaussian
### Number of Gaussians
n_gaussians 2
### Gaussians
### a is the amplitude, s is the width, c the center
### the directions c you enter will be normalized
### a1 s1 c1.x c1.y c1.z
### ...
gaussians
1 0.2 -1 0 0
0.5 0.4 0 0 -1For llg and equivalently mc and gneb, you can specify which
output you want your simulations to create. They share a few common
output types, for example:
llg_output_any 1 # Write any output at all
llg_output_initial 1 # Save before the first iteration
llg_output_final 1 # Save after the last iterationNote in the following that step means after each N iterations and
denotes a separate file for each step, whereas archive denotes that
results are appended to an archive file at each step.
The energy output files are in units of meV, and can be switched to
meV per spin with <method>_output_energy_divide_by_nspins.
LLG:
llg_output_energy_step 0 # Save system energy at each step
llg_output_energy_archive 1 # Archive system energy at each step
llg_output_energy_spin_resolved 0 # Also save energies for each spin
llg_output_energy_divide_by_nspins 1 # Normalize energies with number of spins
llg_output_configuration_step 1 # Save spin configuration at each step
llg_output_configuration_archive 0 # Archive spin configuration at each stepMC:
mc_output_energy_step 0
mc_output_energy_archive 1
mc_output_energy_spin_resolved 0
mc_output_energy_divide_by_nspins 1
mc_output_configuration_step 1
mc_output_configuration_archive 0GNEB:
gneb_output_energies_step 0 # Save energies of images in chain
gneb_output_energies_interpolated 1 # Also save interpolated energies
gneb_output_energies_divide_by_nspins 1 # Normalize energies with number of spins
gneb_output_chain_step 0 # Save the whole chain at each stepAgain, the different Methods share a few common parameters. On the example of the LLG Method:
### Maximum wall time for single simulation
### hh:mm:ss, where 0:0:0 is infinity
llg_max_walltime 0:0:0
### Force convergence parameter
llg_force_convergence 10e-9
### Number of iterations
llg_n_iterations 2000000
### Number of iterations after which to save
llg_n_iterations_log 2000
### Number of iterations that gets run with no checks or outputs (Increasing this boosts performance, especially in CUDA builds)
llg_n_iterations_amortize 1LLG:
### Seed for Random Number Generator
llg_seed 20006
### Damping [none]
llg_damping 0.3E+0
### Time step dt [ps]
llg_dt 1.0E-3
### Temperature [K]
llg_temperature 0
llg_temperature_gradient_direction 1 0 0
llg_temperature_gradient_inclination 0.0
### Spin transfer torque parameter proportional to injected current density
llg_stt_magnitude 0.0
### Spin current polarisation normal vector
llg_stt_polarisation_normal 1.0 0.0 0.0The time step dt is given in picoseconds.
The temperature is given in Kelvin and the temperature gradient in Kelvin/Angstrom.
If you don't specify a seed for the RNG, it will be chosen randomly.
MC:
### Seed for Random Number Generator
mc_seed 20006
### Temperature [K]
mc_temperature 0
### Acceptance ratio
mc_acceptance_ratio 0.5The temperature is given in Kelvin.
If you don't specify a seed for the RNG, it will be chosen randomly.
GNEB:
### Constant for the spring force
gneb_spring_constant 1.0
### Number of energy interpolations between images
gneb_n_energy_interpolations 10Note that for this feature you need to build with SPIRIT_ENABLE_PINNING
set to ON in cmake.
For each lattice direction a b and c, you have two choices for pinning.
For example to pin n cells in the a direction, you can set both
pin_na_left and pin_na_right to different values or set pin_na to set
both to the same value.
To set the direction of the pinned cells, you need to give the pinning_cell
keyword and one vector for each basis atom.
You can for example do the following to create a U-shaped pinning in x-direction:
# Pin left side of the sample (2 rows)
pin_na_left 2
# Pin top and bottom sides (2 rows each)
pin_nb 2
# Pin the atoms to x-direction
pinning_cell
1 0 0To specify individual pinned sites (overriding the above pinning settings), insert a list into your input. For example:
### Specify the number of pinned sites and then the sites (in terms of translations) and directions
### i da db dc Sx Sy Sz
n_pinned 3
0 0 0 0 1.0 0.0 0.0
0 1 0 0 0.0 1.0 0.0
0 0 1 0 0.0 0.0 1.0You may also place it into a separate file with the keyword pinned_from_file,
e.g.
### Read pinned sites from a separate file
pinned_from_file input/pinned.txtThe file should either contain only the pinned sites or you need to specify n_pinned
inside the file.
Note that for this feature you need to build with SPIRIT_ENABLE_DEFECTS
set to ON in cmake.
In order to specify disorder across the lattice, you can write for example a single atom basis with 50% chance of containing one of two atom types (0 or 1):
# iatom atom_type mu_s concentration
atom_types 1
0 1 2.0 0.5Note that you have to also specify the magnetic moment, as this is now site- and atom type dependent.
A two-atom basis where
- the first atom is type 0
- the second atom is 70% type 1 and 30% type 2
# iatom atom_type mu_s concentration
atom_types 2
0 0 1.0 1
1 1 2.5 0.7
1 2 2.3 0.3The total concentration on a site should not be more than 1. If it is less
than 1, vacancies will appear.
To specify defects, be it vacancies or impurities, you may fix atom types for sites of the whole lattice by inserting a list into your input. For example:
### Atom types: type index 0..n or or vacancy (type < 0)
### Specify the number of defects and then the defects in terms of translations and type
### i da db dc itype
n_defects 3
0 0 0 0 -1
0 1 0 0 -1
0 0 1 0 -1You may also place it into a separate file with the keyword defects_from_file,
e.g.
### Read defects from a separate file
defects_from_file input/defects.txtThe file should either contain only the defects or you need to specify n_defects
inside the file.