Exploring utilization of generative AI for research and education in data-driven materials science

Generative AI has recently had a profound impact on various fields, including daily life, research, and education. To explore its efficient utilization in data-driven materials science, we organized a hackathon -- AIMHack2024 -- in July 2024. In this hackathon, researchers from fields such as materials science, information science, bioinformatics, and condensed matter physics worked together to explore how generative AI can facilitate research and education. Based on the results of the hackathon, this paper presents topics related to (1) conducting AI-assisted software trials, (2) building AI tutors for software, and (3) developing GUI applications for software. While generative AI continues to evolve rapidly, this paper provides an early record of its application in data-driven materials science and highlights strategies for integrating AI into research and education.

Sub-photon accuracy noise reduction of single shot coherent diffraction pattern with atomic model trained autoencoder

Single-shot imaging with femtosecond X-ray lasers is a powerful measurement technique that can achieve both high spatial and temporal resolution. However, its accuracy has been severely limited by the difficulty of applying conventional noise-reduction processing. This study uses deep learning to validate noise reduction techniques, with autoencoders serving as the learning model. Focusing on the diffraction patterns of nanoparticles, we simulated a large dataset treating the nanoparticles as composed of many independent atoms. Three neural network architectures are investigated: neural network, convolutional neural network and U-net, with U-net showing superior performance in noise reduction and subphoton reproduction. We also extended our models to apply to diffraction patterns of particle shapes different from those in the simulated data. We then applied the U-net model to a coherent diffractive imaging study, wherein a nanoparticle in a microfluidic device is exposed to a single X-ray free-electron laser pulse. After noise reduction, the reconstructed nanoparticle image improved significantly even though the nanoparticle shape was different from the training data, highlighting the importance of transfer learning.

irbasis: Open-source database and software for intermediate-representation basis functions of imaginary-time Green's function

The open-source library, irbasis, provides easy-to-use tools for two sets of orthogonal functions named intermediate representation (IR). The IR basis enables a compact representation of the Matsubara Green's function and efficient calculations of quantum models. The IR basis functions are defined as the solution of an integral equation whose analytical solution is not available for this moment. The library consists of a database of pre-computed high-precision numerical solutions and computational code for evaluating the functions from the database. This paper describes technical details and demonstrates how to use the library.