Professor Matthieu Verstraete (CESAM/Faculty of Sciences research unit) from ULiège has just won an allocation of 40 million hours of computing time on the MareNostrum4 supercomputer, located in Barcelona. A rather rare allocation which will enable him, with his colleagues from the EPFL and the University of Utrecht, to carry out a complete characterisation of new ultra-thin materials with innovative properties.
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upercomputers - the first of which appeared in the 1960s - are computers designed to achieve spectacular performance in terms of computing speed. Scientists and industry use this type of device to carry out tasks that require very high computing power. Modelling, climatology, the simulation of physical, economic or financial dynamics are all fields that use this type of machine. Matthieu Verstraete, Professor at the Department of Physics (CESAM Research Unit / Faculty of Sciences) of the ULiège, together with colleagues from the EPFL and the University of Utrecht, has just won an allocation of 40 million computing hours on MareNostrum4, one of the largest supercomputers in Europe, located in Barcelona. Thanks to the power of MareNostrum4, the scientific team's project aims to carry out a complete characterisation of new ultra-thin "two-dimensional" (or 2D) materials in order to optimise their properties. These materials open up new application possibilities and functionalities in microelectronics, for sensors, connected objects, or as a matrix for a quantum computer," explains Matthieu Verstraete. “The advantage of bringing together a multidisciplinary team in this type of project is that each researcher will bring a complementary approach and software to determine the electrical, magnetic, optical and vibrational properties, as well as the microscopic structural defects of the materials we study.”
An allocation of this importance is rare enough in Belgium to be highlighted. The work of the researchers has started quickly since access to the computer is entirely remote. The researchers use and develop free software, such as Abinit, Quantum espresso or Aiida, to carry out their calculations. In particular, we will be using the ABINIT software suite," says the researcher, "a platform that will allow us to calculate the optical, mechanical and vibrational properties of materials. "ABINIT is a Belgian initiative that was launched in 2001 and developed by ULiège and UCLouvain. The first concrete results will be published in scientific journals in the coming months. The path towards technological applications is already well under way, for example at the IMEC research centre in Leuven, which has demonstrated the integration of these materials in reference silicon technology. Computer chips based on 2D materials are envisaged within 10 years if all goes well.
Europe's supercomputers are managed by the PRACE consortium, funded by the EU to catalyse science and industry through ultra-high performance digital resources. Even after 3 years of operation MareNostrum remains the 42nd most powerful supercomputer in the world.
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